All You Need to Know About Inkjet and Laser Printers

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

Web: http://www.ctcopier.com/

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Laser Printer: The Better Printing Option

Laser printer is a very common term that many of us get to hear today.  Almost all offices have switched to laser printers from the traditional ink jet ones.  The laser printers have many benefits over the regular ink jet printers which makes them a better printing option in a lot of cases.

Before looking at the laser printer let us first look at the history of printers that we have had to date. The very first printer of sorts would have been the simple type writer.  It functions very similar to the printer with the only different being there is no computing interface between the typist and the printing device.

The evolution of the typewriter was the dot matrix printer.  This was based on the same concept as a typewriter in that the contents where printed on the paper by impressions hitting a ribbon of ink. Depending on the kind of patterns that hit the ribbon, the corresponding images or text got transferred onto the paper.

The next jump in the printing domain was the ink jet printer.  This printer uses a spray of ink to create images on the paper.  The first printers of this kind were black and white printers and they could produce a much better and neater looking printout as compared to the dot matrix printers.

With time, the technology evolved and coloured inks made way into printing.  Now it is not difficult to get colour printouts as well as black and white printouts from the printer.  So much, so that, most printers have the option to load multiple cartridges and support both printing options.

The next evolution in the printing technology was the laser printers.  This solution was quite different from the traditional printing options that were available.  All the previous versions used some form of ink to create images on the paper.  The laser printer changed that approach and introduced the option of using electrostatic charges to print and create images on the paper.

Given the accuracy of the laser beams, the print outs from these printers where crisper and of much superior quality as compared to the other forms of printing.  The ink jet printers, also created great images, but there is always some lag time between getting the print out and the ink drying out.  The modern solutions do address this problem, and we have some really quick drying inks available today.  The quality of laser printouts is still superior to other printouts.

The only limitation of the laser printer for a long time was the lack of the colour printing option.  As a result, it was a norm to use ink jet printers for colour printouts while sticking to laser ones for purely black and white needs.  However, this is changing now with the advent of colour laser printing.  Now one can get laser quality printouts for not just text, but also for vibrant colourful pictures and photos too.  While the colour laser printers remain a premium product today; pretty soon they will become mainstream and the general public can enjoy the high quality printing solutions.

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

Web: http://www.ctcopier.com/

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How to Select the Best Laser Printer

Before determining the best laser printer that is suitable for your needs, the first thing you should do is understand the basic knowledge about the printers.  

Printers have two ways to produce a picture; an inkjet printer produces a picture by spraying very small dots of ink onto the paper while a laser printing device produces a picture by throwing powdered ink to paper which is then electrically charged to drum for the image to transfer to.  If you have needs to print more photos or graphics and less text-based documents, you might be better off to buy an inkjet printer.  If you have needs to print many text-based documents, a laser printer will be the best choice for you.

Choosing the right device for printing is very important because if you frequently print many documents then if you use an inkjet printer, you will spend more money for the ink cartridges over time then the expense of laser toner cartridges over the lifetime of a laser printer.

Monochrome or Color Laser Printer

You can find a black and white laser printing device for less than $200.  These types are usually cost-effective plus cheaper to maintain as compared to inkjet printers.   A color laser printer is significantly more high-priced, and it is right here that you can be teased to select an inkjet printer as an alternative.  Remember though, that the first investment pertaining to color toner cartridges enhances the upfront price of a color laser printer, yet color printing is going to definitely cost a lot less per page than inkjet printers.  Although some color laser printers can handle the printing of photographs, the picture quality depending on the quality of the laser printer will sometimes be substantially worse than some inkjet printers.  That is why if you have a strong intention to print photos, it is recommended that you select an inkjet printer usually.

Print Quality

A laser printing device can yield crisp and razor-sharp text output associated with simple graphics (grayscale) yet it doesn't mean you need to neglect resolution specifications entirely.  Printer resolution is usually assessed in dots per inch.  If you have a printer which has a higher resolution then it will result in a sharper and crisper outcome printed job.  That is why it is worth taking into consideration if you will be printing graphics.  Monochrome/grayscale laser printing devices have a resolution at 1200 by 1200 or 600 by 600; however these scales are usually more than enough regarding printing text and graphics.  The resolution of a Color laser printing device is often as high as 2400 by 1200, that increases the quality of the colour print substantially.

Printer Memory

Memory space decides how fast your printing device prints plus the quality of the prints it creates. Printing devices with laser technology save documents within memory.  More memory enables you to print a higher resolution at quicker speeds.  If you deliver a high-resolution to your printing device, yet do not have the memory to take care of it, the printer instantly sets the work's station resolution to check the actual printer's capabilities.

Memory space upgrades are relatively affordable; therefore if you select a cheaper laser printing device along with less memory, search for one which can allow memory space upgrades, particularly important if you do network the printer with several users in your workplace.  The majority of expensive laser printing devices, is equipped with at least 64MB of memory space.  If you are purchasing for a large business with many print jobs, select a laser printer which can be upgraded to at least 128MB, if not more.  Once again, if velocity is the key element, take into consideration to buy the model with additional memory space.

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

Web: http://www.ctcopier.com/

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Types of Fax Machines

Fax machines are devices that copy data that is wired.  It also acts as a duplicator that is used to copy the incoming data onto paper.  Fax machines are very important in this modern and fast paced life where everything is depended upon time.  This saves time, as it is an electronic device and transmits data at a very fast speed.

There are a variety of fax machines available in the market; depending upon the need and necessity of the user, which can be purchased.  In the olden days thermal fax machines were used, which used thermal papers.  This was not a very good method followed, as they were hard to read and faded away quite soon.  That was in the past!  Nowadays, plain paper is used to print the fax data.  The most common types of fax machines used are laser and inkjet fax machines.

Inkjet fax machines produce good quality prints of faxes, though the speed is slower when compared to the laser type.  They also produce prints at a much lower cost, as the consumables are not as costly as a laser printer;  but if the number of faxes received per day is more than 30, then the slow speed could be annoying, and so it is not advised in places where more faxes are expected to come in.  As they tend to get mechanical problems in the long run, they are not advised in heavy faxing and fax receiving areas.

Laser printers are fit for an office environment and places where a high flow of incoming and outgoing faxes are expected.  These are heavy duty machines and do a good job typing out the matter neatly and clearly.  They are also very fast and so there is no need to wait in queue to send or receive a fax!  The Laser fax machines use a light emitting diode or an LED, which is very reliable and is definitely long lasting.  They are however, expensive when compared to the inkjet and thermal, but looking at the performance, they are definitely worth the cost.  The quality of the images and letters produced is also high.

Thermal transfer fax machine is the third type that uses heat to transmit the ink from a ribbon in the machine, onto the plain paper.  They are reliable and also inexpensive, but the quality is not as good as the others.  Also the whole operation is a noisy affair.  This is mostly used in home-office set ups than in big business and office set ups.

The Fax machine is quite a useful device and can be expensive as well.  It is therefore necessary to take care of it well, always.  Also, before buying the machine, it is necessary to thoroughly analysis  what is the need and type of fax machine to be bought, in order to buy the effective and correct performance machine.

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

Web: http://www.ctcopier.com/

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