Planning on buying a printer but wondering
which printing technology is right for you?
Then read on.
What's important here is what purpose you
will use this printer for. Will you
print frequently or occasionally? Is
black and white printing sufficient for you or will you also print colors and
possibly photos? First you need to
decide if you should get an inkjet printer or a laser printer. Let's look at the features of these two
printing technologies.
Inkjet Printers can be categorized as
3-color inkjet printers, 4-color inkjets and photo printing inkjet printers. The 4-color inkjet printers are the most
popular ones in the printing industry.
4-color Inkjet Printers usually hold two
ink cartridges (one for black and one for color). Some hold two additional ink cartridges to
separate the colors and have one ink cartridge for each color (black, cyan,
magenta and yellow).
3-color Inkjet Printers are usually
equivalent to the low-end 4 color inkjet printers with the exception of holding
only one ink cartridge at a time. So you
need to switch the ink cartridge to change between black and color. The 3-color inkjet printers are no longer
popular as the 4-color inkjet printer prices are continually dropping.
The photo printing inkjet printers are a
bit more complicated than the first two. Many of the 4-color inkjets print photos with
good quality and most photo printing inkjets carry the same features as 4-color
inkjets with just a few special photo printing features added such as directly
printing from the digital camera. Most
of the photo printing inkjets use additional colors such as light cyan light
magenta, green, and red to provide true photographic quality outputs.
Laser Printers have two different technologies
for black & white (monochrome) and color printing. Among the laser
printers, monochrome laser printers are the most popular ones in the industry.
Generally, laser printers are faster than inkjet printers. Laser printers are quite popular as they offer
fast printing, good print quality and low cost per page. They use toner cartridges instead of ink
cartridges found in inkjet printers.
Whether it's for home offices, businesses
or home users, I can say that Monochrome Laser Printers offer the best balance
between print quality, price and speed. With
their prices dropping down to around $200-$400 (personal laser printer) they
start to become a good alternative to inkjet printers. As monochrome laser printers' toner cartridges
cost less, they are less expensive to maintain. However if you print color, you
may want to go for an inkjet printer.
Color Laser Printers are generally designed
for offices where a lot of graphics or photographs are being printed. If you are a home user, probably you will not
need a color laser printer. The high-end
laser printers are capable of printing good quality photographs but still none
can reach the true photo quality of high-end inkjet printers.
Once you choose between monochrome and
color laser printer, you can decide whether you need a personal or workgroup
laser.
Personal Laser printers are suitable for
text and simple graphics. Most of the personal lasers in the market are
monochrome laser printers; because of their high prices, the color laser
printers were not attracting personal users. As some models with prices less than $1,000
have been released, color laser printers are likely to be more popular among
personal users too.
Small to Medium Workgroup Lasers are
designed for small offices or workgroups within large firms. In addition to the
standard features, they have specific features designed for multiple users such
as larger input and output trays, duplex (double-sided) printing, sorting, and
stapling. They support printing over
networks (standard or optional). They
also have fast processors and more memory which enables them to handle multiple
tasks at good speed. Most of the
workgroup laser printers are monochrome.
Whichever type of printer you choose, be
sure to get one that has features you will actually use. Do not overpay for a printer with excessive
features you are never likely to use.
Correct-Tek Copier Service
1514 E. Waverly Ct.
Arlington Heights, IL 60004 US
Tel: 847-398-5212
Mobile: 847-398-5212
Email: ctcopier@sbcglobal.net
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