Print type
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Inkjet. With inkjet printing, an image is applied to paper using microscopic drops of ink directed by the print head. This technology is well suited for home use and colour printing: inkjet printers are relatively inexpensive, and print quality can be as high as photographic. On the other hand, such printers are not suitable for printing in large volumes, because. the resource of cartridges is small and the price per page is quite high. In addition, if left idle for several days, ink residue in the print head will dry out, degrading print quality. This can be avoided by using the printer continuously or by using a special cleaning procedure that does not improve cartridge yield.
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Laser. Printing in such printers occurs as follows: a laser beam marks individual sections of the photosensitive drum, toner (powdered paint) sticks to these areas, which is then transferred to paper. Laser printers are more expensive than inkjet printers and are overwhelmingly black and white; at the same time, they provide high quality and permanence of black and white printing at a low cost of the print itself, which is why they are considered optimal for business documents. Colour printing using laser technology is rarely used. inferior in quality to inkjet.
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LED. Printing technology, in many ways similar to laser (see above); the only key difference is the use o
...f a string of LEDs instead of the actual laser. This allows you to keep the main advantages of laser technology (quality and durability of black-and-white prints at their low cost), slightly reducing the cost of the printers themselves.
— Sublimation. In such printers, a special ink ribbon is used to form an image, and the print head is a set of heating elements. During the printing process, the head heats up the ribbon, the ink evaporates and settles already on the paper. Printing takes place in several stages, at the last one a special protective coating is usually applied to the image. This technology allows to achieve high-quality colour reproduction, a very small size of one dot and, as a result, high resolution, and therefore will be used mainly in photo printers.
— Solid ink. As the name implies, the ink for such a printer is initially in a solid state. When printing, they are heated to become liquid and applied to paper through a special heated drum (as in laser printers) or directly (like inkjet printers). Prints from a solid ink printer are distinguished by high-quality colour reproduction and resistance to moisture. On the other hand, the resolution of such devices is lower than that of inkjet printers, and the prints fade quickly enough in the light and are sensitive to scratches. Another feature is that the printer takes a portion of the dye from the cartridge every time it is turned on, and if there was no printing, this dye does not return to the cartridge when it is turned off, but is dumped into a special container as unsuitable for further use. Thus, ideally, a solid ink printer should not be turned off at all. Therefore, such devices are mainly used for professional printing in design and advertising firms.
— Thermal printing. Printing technology based on the effect of heat on sensitive media (usually special paper): the media darkens at the point of heating. Due to this, such printing does not require ink — the only “consumable” is the heat-sensitive paper itself; in addition, the design of the printers themselves is much simpler and more compact than with other technologies. However, on the other hand, the need for special paper and incompatibility with regular paper can create some difficulties; and, usually, there is no talk of colour printing. As a result, thermal printing is mainly used for official documents like checks: in cash registers, ATMs, payment terminals, etc. Printers using this technology are usually compact devices designed for maximum portability. They are well suited for those who often need to print documents out of the office — for example, forwarders, service workers, etc.Output type
The number of colours the printer produces when printing. To date, there are
monochrome(black and white) and
colour(providing full-colour printing) printers. The former are considered optimal for documents and other official materials that do not require colour; the latter allow you to create a full-fledged image, but such printing is much more expensive, so you should pay attention to them only if the colour format is critical.
Number of colors
The color palette that the printer can print.
A large number of colors is required for high-quality photo printing and obtaining color prints with many shades. The standard is
4 colors.
Max. resolution
The maximum resolution of the image to be printed. It is usually indicated by two numbers denoting the number of dpi (DPI) horizontally and vertical:
600x600, 1200x600,
1200x1200,
2400x600,
2400x1200,
4800x600,
4800x1200,
4800x2400,
5760x1440,
9600x600,
9600x2400. The detail of the image depends on this parameter - the higher the resolution, the more fine details the printer is able to convey and the better their image will be. High print resolution is important, first of all, when working with graphic material; low resolution is sufficient for high-quality text display. So
First page print time
The time from the receipt of a print command to the exit from the printer of the first page printed in black and white, in other words, how long after pressing the "Print" button, the user will receive the first page. Most often indicated for draft (fastest) print mode, higher quality will take longer. You should pay attention to this parameter if you often need to print small documents (on one or several pages) on the printer.
Mono print
The black and white print speed provided by the printer. It should be noted that this parameter is often indicated for low quality when the device is running at maximum performance; at a higher quality (even at standard), the actual speed can be noticeably lower, so you should choose with a certain margin. Also note that high speed significantly affects the price, power consumption and noise level. Therefore, it does not always make sense to chase maximum performance — for simple applications (for example, at home or in a small office), a relatively slow and inexpensive device may be the best choice.
As for specific values, speeds
up to 20 ppm are considered relatively low,
20 – 30 ppm — average,
31 – 40 ppm — decent, and the fastest models are capable of delivering
more than 40 pages per minute.
Colour print
Colour print speed provided by the printer. Usually, the specifications give speed at low quality, when performance is highest; on standard and especially high settings, the print speed can be noticeably lower, so it’s worth choosing with a certain margin. It is also worth considering that high speed significantly affects the price, power consumption and noise level. Therefore, it does not always make sense to chase maximum performance — for simple applications and small print volumes, a relatively slow and inexpensive device may be the best choice.
The "slowest" colour printers today are capable of delivering
less than 10 pages per minute. A more decent value is considered
10 – 20 ppm, a speed
of more than 20 ppm can already be called quite good, and in the fastest models this figure
exceeds 30 ppm.
Photo print
Printer print speed in photographic (highest) quality. Unlike other similar parameters, in this case the speed is usually indicated for a 10x15 sheet (A6, the most popular format for photographs). In addition, photo printing speed is not expressed in pages per minute, but in seconds per page, because. printing takes a lot of time. This option is worth paying attention to if you plan to
print photos frequently.
Duplex printing
Automatic duplex printing function .
In this mode, the user does not need to manually turn over each sheet and send it to print on the second side — this will be done by the printer mechanism, and materials printed on both sides will immediately enter the output tray. This not only saves time, but also eliminates confusion: a person can make a mistake and print one of the sides “upside down”, automation does not allow such errors.
