Printer

What is Printer?

A printer is a hardware output device that is used to generate hard copy and print any document. A document can be of any type such as a text file, image, or the combination of both. It accepts input command by users on a computer or on other devices to print the documents. For example, if you have to submit a project report at your college, you need to create a soft copy of your report and print it with the help of the printer.
Printers are one of the common computer peripheral devices that can be classified into two categories that are 2D and 3D printers. The 2D printers are used to print text and graphics on a paper, and 3D printers are used to create three dimensional physical objects.

Types of printer

Although there are different types of printers, nowadays, two types of printers are commonly used, which are inkjet and laser printers. A list of all the various types of printers is given below:

Inkjet Printers
Laser Printers
3D Printers
LED Printers
Solid Ink Printers
Dot Matrix Printers
Multifunction or All-in-One Printers
Thermal printer
Plotter
Inkjet Printers

It is widely used by home and business computer users that prints characters by spraying the ink using magnetic plates on the paper. It contains a paper feed assembly, ink cartridge, print head, stabilizer bar, and belt.

It stores the ink in cartridges, and uses separate cartridge to print several types of color documents. These colors are a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black color. These types of printers have the ability to create high-quality pictures with the help of vivid colors. Furthermore, the inkjet printers are more affordable and easier to use as compared to other printers.

Advantages of Inkjet Printers:

The Inkjet printers have the ability to produce high-quality output. These printers are reasonably fast and easy to use. Additionally, these types of printers do not take warm up time. Disadvantages of Inkjet Printer:

It may take more time to print. Its running cost is high. It does not allow the highlighter marker. Sometimes, it can produce a wrong warning of an empty cartridge. Laser printers The laser printer is one of the common personal computer printers. It was introduced in 1971, and after that it was developed at Xerox PARC by Gary Starkweather. It uses the laser or non-impact photocopier technology to print the text and images on the paper. Whenever it gets input to print any document, a laser beam draws the document on the selenium-coated drum with the help of electric charges.

When the drum is charged, it is rolled in toner (dry ink powder). The ink follows the image, which has charged on the drum. The ink is combined with the paper, including heat and pressure, then transferred on a chunk (piece) of paper. When the document is printed, the excess toner is collected, and an electric charge is removed from the drum. Most of the laser printers are capable of printing only in monochrome. The monochrome laser printer is around ten times cheaper than a color laser printer.