What types of printers exist and their main differences. Tips for buying a printer. Main types of printers

With a huge variety of printers on the market, it is sometimes difficult to make a choice. Before going to an office equipment store, it is better to first get acquainted with the types of printers that currently exist and their characteristics. You can use the services of a store manager, but it is better to prepare and become a specialist yourself, since his opinion is not always objective.

Black and white inkjet printers are no longer available. Color ones are convenient in cases where you need to print photographic quality documents at low speed. Their ink consumption is high and the cost of printing is high. Cartridges can be refilled with ink, but printer manufacturers do not sell original ink. You can buy compatible ones from third-party manufacturers.

A printer is a device used to print information from electronic form on paper. In this case, the process of transferring data to paper is called printing, and the result is called printing. A printer can perform several functions, so you should approach the selection process carefully by thoroughly familiarizing yourself with its functions. It is necessary to take into account all the features of printing, for example, an office model for a home will not be the best option, since you do not need a large volume of printing, and there is also no need to purchase a universal printing device.

Types of printing devices

Today there are two types of printing devices that differ in their functionality:

• Multifunctional.
• Printers.

The first type is briefly called MFP. It is usually chosen for home use; in addition to printing information on paper, this device can scan documents to save the result in electronic form; you can use it as a regular copier for simple copying documents and also as a fax.

Such a complex device will cost less than the cost of a printer, copier and scanner purchased separately. In addition, with such a purchase you will save space on computer desk, and there will be fewer wires. If you don’t need anything other than printing text on paper, then optimal choice there will be a second type of device.

Types and features of the device

The range of printers today is very large. They differ in many parameters - purpose, type of ink, number of colors, operating principle, etc. Each type has its own characteristics and auxiliary functions. Let's look at the main types of printers in more detail.

Matrix

This type of printer was developed in Japan in the 60s of the last century.

Its operating principle is to create an image with a special print head, which consists of a matrix, hence the name of this device. The matrix consists of a set of needles driven by electromagnets. The print head moves along the sheet of paper for each line of text, and the needles act on the paper using an ink ribbon, thereby creating a dot print on the sheet.

IN different models the print head can have from 9 to 24 needles. The more needles, the higher the print quality and the clearer the image. Matrix printing devices have almost been replaced by other modern printers, but are still used in some places. For example, sales receipts in stores are printed using a matrix method.

Insufficient quality, like a typewriter, no longer makes it possible to apply matrix technology in other areas. Among the disadvantages of such devices, except poor quality, one can highlight the noise of operation and low speed print.

The advantages of this rare design are its ability to function in any conditions; the needle prints are resistant to moisture and abrasion. It is quite difficult to forge a document printed on a matrix device.

Inkjet printer

The principle of operation of an inkjet device is somewhat similar to matrix technology: the image is also formed from dots. Instead of a needle print head, a matrix with liquid inks is used.

It can be fixed in the device body or built into the cartridge. “Struiniki” are divided according to certain typical characteristics.

If we consider their division by type of ink, then they are divided into:

• Water(used in many office and household devices).
• Oily(for marking in industry).
• Solvent(for printing stands, advertising and various posters, resistant to moisture).
• Pigment (best way creating high-quality images, photographs).
• Thermal transfer(for applying fashionable prints to clothes).
• Alcohol(they dry quickly in the print head, which limits their use).

There are different types inkjet printers by purpose:

• Office(they are equipped with offices for printing small documents).
• Widescreen(for printing advertisements).
• Marking(parts are marked).
• Interior(printing stands, posters, interior elements).
• Photo printers.
• Souvenir(printing images on laser discs, objects with complex surfaces).
• Manicure(design is applied to nails in beauty salons).

Photo printers and office printing devices are equipped with one head for each color, have high-quality color reproduction, and do not create noise. High image quality can only be achieved by using special paper.

The speed of inkjet printers is slightly higher than that of matrix printers, the image is sensitive to moisture, may smear, depending on the type of ink, and fades over time. An inkjet printer is a capricious device that will work normally if all cartridges are used regularly. If for a long time the device does not turn on, the ink in the head may dry out.

The main negative factor is the high cost of printing. The ink in the cartridge runs out quickly; periodic replacement is necessary, which is an expensive pleasure. This problem is partially solved by the following device under consideration.

CISS

This device can easily replace the work of cartridges; its name stands for system continuous feed ink. The operating principle of this system is to supply ink to the cartridge through tubes.

This improves print quality and you can save money without purchasing expensive cartridges. You just need to purchase ink in a timely manner and pour it into containers, which is much cheaper and lasts for a longer time.

To refill this system, you do not need to contact a specialist; you can do everything yourself. Previously, this system was sold separately, but now it is built into many printer models.

Laser technology

It would be more correct to call this printing method electrographic; it arose in 1938, and was then called xerography and electrography. Currently, this method is called laser printing, which differs high quality, efficiency and high performance.

The main element of this device is a photoreceptor that stores a charge on its surface electric current, for each point in the image there is a separate charge. The laser beam hits the photoreceptor, made in the form of a drum, and directs the radiation to individual points from which it removes the charge. A computer connected to a laser printer controls the laser beam and creates a specific image on the drum.

A special powder dye enters the photoreceptor and sticks to its charged areas, creating an image that is then transferred to the paper and baked onto it by heating.

This technology has proven itself to be very fast compared to inkjet models. The print quality of the laser printer is high, the image is not subject to abrasion, is resistant to moisture, and does not fade, unlike the previous models reviewed. Dignity laser technology is also the ability to print on any paper with excellent quality.

A laser printer has its drawbacks: high cost, which is offset by cheaper refills and maintenance. The disadvantage also includes some distortion in the printing of letters and images on the edge of the sheet - the dot sometimes turns out to be an oval. Modern models no longer have this problem by using special technological lenses.

LED technology

This method can be considered a type of laser printing, with a difference in the light source. Here, instead of a laser beam, LEDs are used. In the image, all the dots correspond to individual LEDs that do not move like a laser.

This increases operational reliability and is an advantage. Another advantage is high performance - the printing speed can reach 40 sheets per minute, and the print quality is much higher compared to laser printing, since there is no distortion at the edges of the sheet. The only drawback is its high cost.

Rarely used types of printers

There are many different technologies seals that are not widely used or are used for narrow specialization.

• Sublimation printer is alternative option for inkjet models, rarely works in offices, but is successfully used in printing production, has good quality images and color rendering.

• Drums the devices that worked before are no longer in use, their design is outdated, but the printing speed of these devices exceeds all existing types of printers. Its main element is a drum, which has the dimensions of a sheet, and has reliefs of numbers and letters on the surface. The operation of the device is as follows: the drum rotates, and when the desired number or letter passes over the sheet, a special pusher hits the sheet, imprinting the symbol on the paper using ink ribbon. Printed sheets on such a printer can be easily recognized - the font is similar to that of a manual typewriter, with characters “jumping” in height.

• Petal The printer works in a similar way, with the difference that the character set is located on flexible paddles on a rotating disk. The desired petal touches the ink ribbon and a sheet of paper, creating an imprint. Colored text can be obtained by installing a ribbon of a different color.

Throughout the history of development, printing devices have been of the following types: chain, track and ball. They differed in their operating principle, but were not widely used.

• Home or office printer. The only difference between them is the volume of printing. For home use, up to 500 sheets per month are enough; for office work, this will clearly not be enough. Therefore, laser models are purchased for the office, while inkjet models are preferable for the home, although everyone chooses for themselves.
• Print quality. This parameter is individual for each user. There is a parameter that determines the clarity and quality of the printout - this is the resolution. For office work, a printing device with a resolution of 600 to 2400 pixels per inch is suitable. Almost everything modern devices today have sufficient resolution to work in any conditions.
• Printing cost. When choosing a printer, you need to look at both the price of the device itself and the costs required for its maintenance and refilling. If you only need to print a little, it is better to purchase an inexpensive device designed for small loads. If you need to print a large volume of documents, then the optimal choice would be an expensive printer with a large load capacity. The price also depends on the number of additional functions: built-in memory, auxiliary trays, wireless connection with a computer, etc.

Reading time: 9 minutes

Printer(from English print- seal) - peripheral device computer designed to translate text or graphics into physical media from electronic form. The printing process is called printing, and the resulting document is a printout or hard copy.

Types of printers

There are three main types of printers in the world: matrix; jet; laser. Printers can also be lettered, sublimation and thermal, and in terms of printing color - black and white (monochrome) and color. Sometimes from laser printers LED printers are classified as a separate type. Monochrome printers have their own niche and are unlikely (in the foreseeable future) to be completely replaced by color ones.

Dot matrix printers They use a combination of small pins that strike the ink ribbon, leaving an imprint of the symbol on the paper. Each character printed on the printer is formed from a set of 9, 18 or 24 needles arranged in a vertical column

Inkjet printers generate characters as a sequence of ink dots. The printer's print head has tiny nozzles, through which quick-drying ink is sprayed onto the page. These printers are demanding on paper quality. Color inkjet printers create colors by combining ink from the four primary colors - cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

Inkjet printers, are mainly used for small volumes of household color printing - they are best suited for printing color photographs or illustrated documents. However, for large volumes of printing with significant ink consumption, they become unprofitable to use.

Inkjet printers can print images of very high quality on special paper. These printers are for professional work with color images are called photo printers. Some of them can print images directly from digital camera, and some models have a color LCD screen that allows you to preview the image before printing.

Laser printers They work in much the same way as photocopiers. The computer forms an “image” of a page of text in its memory and transmits it to the printer. Information about the page is projected using a laser beam onto a rotating drum with a photosensitive coating that changes electrical properties depending on the light level. After illumination on the drum located under electrical voltage, coloring powder is applied - toner, particles of which stick to illuminated areas of the drum surface. The printer uses a special hot roller to pull the paper under the drum; the toner is transferred to the paper and “fused” into it, leaving a durable, high-quality image . Laser printers primary price level allow you to receive only black and white copies, but of high quality and very quickly

Color laser printers are several conventional laser printers in one package. The image in them is formed sequentially for each of the colors of the CMYK model in four passes. Here Why are color laser printers so big?– after all, each of them has 4 drums with 4 different toners. Respectively Laser printers have a high cost of color printing and are not very fast.

IN lately Laser printers are becoming increasingly popular, due to very good reasons:

1. Prices for laser printers have dropped sharply.
2. Color has become cheaper and of higher quality laser printing– with significant quantities of prints, laser printers quickly justify the money spent on their purchase.
3. Extremely high quality prints, especially text and business graphics, printed using laser printers.
4. Laser printers, compared to their counterparts of other types, are easier to maintain, more reliable and economical. For example, one refill of a laser printer cartridge allows you to print from 2.5 to 10 thousand copies, and the average monthly resource of its drum, depending on the model, ranges from 10 to 60 thousand prints.
5. Laser printers print quickly and quietly, which is very important for office work.

Got widespread multifunctional devices(MFPs), which combine a printer, scanner, copier and fax in one device. Such a combination is technically rational and convenient to use. Wide-format (A3, A2 and more) printers are sometimes incorrectly called plotters.

Digital photography begins with its creation and implementation photosensor or photosensor- a photosensitive device consisting of a matrix and an analog-to-digital converter.

In terms of prevalence, the leader is inkjet printing, the second is laser, the third is thermal sublimation, the fourth is matrix. For inkjet, laser and matrix printing methods, the lineature is 300-80-30 lpi, and depends on the resolution of the device. With sublimation printing, the line size of the resulting halftones is more than 300 lpi, so monochrome laser and matrix technologies are most widely used when printing texts and graphics, and full-color thermal sublimation technology is used in photo printers. Color inkjet printing shows good results when printing texts, graphics and photographs.

Recently, printers have increasingly begun to be used not only for printing on paper. Radio amateurs use laser printers in the “laser-iron” technology for making circuit boards, applying an etching mask using a laser printer. The same technology is used to apply inscriptions or images, including color ones, to the housings of radio devices and other voluminous objects that do not normally fit into the printer. To do this, simply print the mirrored text on wax paper and transfer it with a flat heater under pressure to a hot object.

Printer manufacturers recommend refilling their printers with their own ink or toner. However, technically preventing the use of third-party ink and toner is as difficult as making a car run only on gasoline from the car manufacturer. Buying so-called branded cartridges is more expensive than refilling cartridges with ink or toner from third-party manufacturers.

Advantages and disadvantages of laser printers:

Advantages:

• high speed;
• large volumes of printing;
• low noise level during operation;
• resistance of printed copies to the influence of water and light;
• low cost per copy - about five tenge per sheet.

The disadvantages of laser printers are:

• minor radiation.

Advantages and disadvantages of inkjet printers:

The main advantages of inkjet printers are:

• fairly low cost;
• the ability to print color images and very high-quality photo printing;
• high printing speed;
• relatively quiet operation;
• low power consumption.

Also, some models of inkjet printers allow you to print not only on paper, but also on films, CDs, and fabrics.

The disadvantages of inkjet printers include:

• high cost consumables(cartridges and special paper);
• vulnerability of copies printed on non-branded paper to light and water;
• the high cost of one copy is about 25-30 tenge, excluding the cost of paper.

Advantages and disadvantages of dot matrix printers:

Dot matrix printers are gradually falling out of use, because they work very slowly and noisily, and copies are obtained low quality. However, the cost of printing one copy on a dot matrix printer is low, and dot matrix printers allow you to make up to three copies simultaneously.
Therefore, at present, dot matrix printers are most often used in conditions unfavorable for other printers, for example, in production, in those workplaces where you need to constantly print large number text information.

Which printer should you choose?

Before purchasing a printer, you should immediately decide what type of printing you need.

• Inkjet printers, are mainly used for small volumes of household color printing - they are best suited for printing. color photographs or illustrated documents. However, for large volumes of printing with significant ink consumption, they become unprofitable to use.

• If you only need black and white printing in large volumes - from 150-200 sheets per month, it is worth choosing laser printer. In the vast majority of other cases, an inkjet printer will work for you.

• If you have a writer and a photographer living under the same roof at home, it’s worth purchasing both devices - fortunately, their cost is currently not that high.

Inkjet printer selection options:

1. If you need a printer mainly for printing abstracts, articles, reports, in which, occasionally, you will see graphics or illustrations, four-color devices are suitable for you.
2. If your requirements for photo printing quality are higher and you need universal printer for the best price, best choice in this case there will be six-color printers. To the four main CMYK colors (Cyan - blue, Magenta - red, Yellow - yellow, Black - black), these printers add two more: light blue and light red. This significantly improves color reproduction and depth.
3. The most expensive are inkjet printers, equipped with a variety of bells and whistles - a flash card reader, a screen for preview photographs from a digital camera, with additional seventh and eighth colors. Additional colors (mostly gray and photo black) are useful for fine art printing black and white photographs. Therefore, such printers are useful as professional photographers, and for amateur photographers.
4. When purchasing an inkjet printer, you should pay special attention to the cartridge (the container with the ink) and its performance, because the quality and cost of printing will depend on them.

The price of an inkjet printer largely depends on:

• Maximum resolution, which ranges from 600x1200 to 4800x1200 dpi. However, the resolution value does not always directly reflect print quality. For example, the print quality of new and old models from the same manufacturer with the same resolution may differ significantly. Similarly, you should not compare the resolution of printers from different manufacturers.

• Printing speeds, which range from seven pages per minute and higher for monochrome (black and white) printing.

• Printer life– the maximum number of sheets that the printer can print during a month, on average – two thousand pages.

Rules of care; How to extend the life of an inkjet printer?

In order to understand the importance of this rule for handling an inkjet printer, you need to know the principle of its operation. The fact is that for printing images using inkjet printers, special ink is used, which quickly dries out when in contact with air. When images are printed, the thin channels of the printer's print head are filled with ink. If air gets into these channels, the ink inside them can dry out and clog them. (This applies to any cartridges and any ink for all models of inkjet printers).

• To prevent ink from drying out, you must turn off the printer using the power button. In this case, the printer's print head will be moved to its extreme position and the print head channels will be protected from contact with outside air. If this rule is not followed, then when you return from a vacation or business trip during which the printer did not work, you will find a failed device. It is also prohibited to store the printer with a cartridge on its side or upside down.

• Never disable the ink level sensor in a cartridge or ignore the printer's low ink level signals. After all, the printer warns you when there is too little ink left in the cartridge and it is only enough to isolate the thin channels of the print head from contact with air. In this case, immediately turn off the printer, replace the cartridge, and in the future remember that you need to replace the cartridge without waiting full use ink. If you do not follow this rule, the air inside the empty cartridge will gain access to the print head channels from the inside and can dry out the remaining ink in these channels, causing them to become clogged.

• As for inkjet printers, in which the cartridge looks like a replaceable ink tank (printers made by Canon and Epson). You can remove such a cartridge from the print head to replace it only for a very short period of time - a few minutes. During this time, the ink cartridge must be installed on the print head, so it is best to always have a spare cartridge ready. If the cartridge replacement procedure is not carried out optimally quickly, then atmospheric air, which freely penetrates into the thin channels of the print head when the cartridge is removed, can quickly dry out the remaining ink in them and clog them.

Laser Printer Selection Options

• Memory capacity, frequency digital processor, permission

Due to its operating principle, a laser printer completely forms the image to be printed on a selenium drum. Therefore, this image must also be completely in the printer buffer. Due to this important parameters The choice of laser printer is the amount of memory installed on it and the frequency of its digital processor.

For large volumes of printing documents and images, a large amount of built-in memory is required, but if the need for printing is not very significant, a printer with less memory is suitable. In general, for a black and white printer, the optimal amount of memory is 4-8 MB, for a color printer - 32-64 MB and higher. It is worth knowing that many modern printers have the ability to increase the amount of memory by installing additional modules.

The frequency of the built-in processor of modern laser printers, depending on their model, ranges from 25 to 150 MHz, resolution - from 600 to 1200 dpi. High resolution necessary primarily for color printing; for printing business graphics, 600 dpi is sufficient.

• Printer life

Shows the number of sheets that it can print during the month without being overloaded. Most laser printers allow you to make about 8-12 thousand copies per month.

• Cartridge life

Shows how many copies the printer can make without needing to replace or refill the toner (dye) cartridge.

The cost of copies printed on a laser printer is insignificant and amounts to about seven tenge per sheet, taking into account the cost of paper.

• Print speed

Most laser printers have print speeds of 11-12 copies per minute or higher.

If you decide to purchase a printer, the most important thing is to decide for what purpose you need it. Do you need a color printer or can you get by with black and white printing? Do you need a laser or inkjet printer, or maybe a solid ink printer would be better for you? Do you really need additional functions, such as modules? wireless communication, copier, scanner and fax functions? Your choice will depend on what you want to print on this printer, in what volume, how many people besides you will use the device and, of course, how much you are willing to spend on the purchase printing device, as well as for its further maintenance, in particular, for the purchase of consumables.

In this article we will try to give brief description every type of printer that exists in nature and that INKSYSTEM can offer. In addition, we will talk about additional functions some printing devices that can make your work much easier.

There are three main types of printers, which differ in the way they apply the image and the material they use as ink. The first and most ancient of them is the matrix type. Such printers have practically become obsolete; they are bulky, print loudly, slowly, and most importantly, only in one color. They can only be used for printing text documents. However, the consumables for them are extremely cheap, which allows these devices to be used in offices for filling out forms and certificates, as well as for numbering.

Laser printers. Quite a common type. Such devices use fine powder - toner - as paint. Such printers can print on any type of paper, including designer cardboard, self-adhesive and transparent film. Prints made with laser printers are of high quality and durability. The toner does not fade in the sun and is not washed off with water. These printers are ideal for printing small text and fine lines, but photographs turn out unnatural and “flat”. Another positive point is the printing speed. Nothing compares to lasers here. However, such devices, as well as their maintenance, are quite expensive, so ordinary users are unlikely to be able to afford such luxury.

Inkjet printers. Printed using liquid ink. They are much more affordable than laser ones, inferior to them in printing speed and the range of paper used. However, due to the ability of ink to spread, mix and create new colors at the point of mixing, they are ideal for photo printing. The INKSYSTEM company is widely known for its wide range of inkjet printers and consumables for them.

Unlike laser printers, inkjet printers give their owners the opportunity to significantly save on printing costs. This is possible with a continuous ink supply system or CISS. By equipping your printer with this device, you can reduce printing costs by 30 times, which will make the cost of your prints literally a penny.

Progress does not stand still, it also affected printing equipment. Today it is unlikely to surprise anyone with a device that combines a scanner, printer, copier and fax. Manufacturers have gone even further and began to produce devices that do not require a PC at all to operate. Such printers can independently access the network, download images from there, and carry out basic corrections. They are capable of printing directly from cameras and mobile phones. This is extremely relevant, given the variety of such technology today.