Types Of Printers
There are basically four different types of printers available today. Knowing your needs will help you to be able to select the proper piece of equipment best suited for you. After you have determined your printing needs you should be able to make an informed decision about the type of printer listed below that will be right for your situation.
Laser Printers
When you find yourself continually needing to produce high volume black and white text, then laser printers are the best option. They are fast, reliable, and produce very clear and crisp workloads that give an ultra-professional appearance.
Unlike ink jet machines, laser printers utilize small lasers to printer text and images onto a rolling drum. The drum then adheres the shape of the text and images onto the paper, thus producing a high-quality end result.
Ink Jet Printers
Ink jet printers operate by spraying ink onto the paper through little holes on the print head. The ink is sprayed directly onto the paper. While the quality of ink jet printers is decent for most uses it is still slower than the speed of laser printers. Ink jet printers can produce a fair amount of volume and are great for everyday use for home and students, but may not quite be able to meet the demands of prolific printers.
The ink jet printers are also usually more affordable than laser printers. Some lower-priced models are available for under $100. Laser printers typically start at $250 and are priced higher from there. The downside of buying ink jet printers is in the regular cost of replacing the ink jet cartridges themselves.
If you print on a regular basis and end up consuming lots of ink, the cost of a laser printer will be more affordable in the long run due to the expense of continually replacing ink jet cartridges.
Photo Printers
Essentially photo printers are high quality ink jet printers. While not exactly the same, especially when considering the variety of printing sizes, photo printers operate with an ink jet system. The quality of photo printers is much higher than most ink jet printers, although photo printers are not able to print text or documents.
Dedicated photo printers are capable of offering a wider range of colors and are able to print images in a wide variety of sizes. Many ink jet printers will not be able to accommodate sizes of common pictures, so if you are wanting to use your printer primarily for pictures, and not for documents, a photo printer is highly recommended.
All In One Printers
As the name suggests, all in one printers perform not only printing capabilities, but also can serve as fax machine (both sending and receiving), scanner, copy machine, and printer. Typically these devices use ink jet cartridges, but laser printers are also available as well. These are also very desirable not only because they tend to be more affordable than buying four individual machines, but also because they take up less space in the office.