One way of determining the best printer to buy is by understanding the different types of printers available to you. There are actually two main types of printers; impact printers and non-impact printers.
The dot-matrix printer stands as a classic example of an impact printer. This machine works similarly to a typewriter. It prints characters using striking pins and an ink ribbon. Each pin imprints a collection of dots, which form the characters and illustrations on the paper. As the name implies, impact printers like dot matrix uses mechanical pressure to create copies of a document. Impact printers are usually inexpensive but operation is slow, loud and graphics are presented in low quality.
Non-impact printers present the more advanced and modern versions of printing machines. As the name implies, these machines do not use mechanical pressure but electromagnetism to spray ink or toner on the paper. These printers are usually more expensive than impact printers but they give you the advantage of quiet operation, higher printing capacities and better quality prints.
Inkjet printers are non-impact printers that are most commonly found in a home or in some smaller office computer setups. To make copies of documents or pictures, it propels variable sizes of droplets of ink on the paper. Unlike other machines, ink jet printers can print on a variety of printing media, which means low cost, high quality and convenient printing.
Page printers are another type of non-impact printer that works like a copy machine. It uses toner and heat bars to produce copies of documents. Laser printers are one example of this kind of printer. Page printers or laser printers print faster than non-impact printers, giving you multiple prints per minute. Due to the advancements in laser technology, improvements have been made on laser printers such as the inclusion of LED technology to deliver small particles of toner from a cartridge onto paper, improving efficiency and economy on running costs.
Plotters are basically printers that run a moving pen across the surface of a piece of paper. These devices are particularly used for vector-based artwork and producing color prints at high resolutions. Plotter printers are used to produce images on larger printing media such as building blueprints or tarpaulin signage.
Thermal printer is the type of printing machine that uses heated pins that are pushed against heat-sensitive paper. These are the type of printers that are used in calculators and fax machines. While this type of machine prints faster than dot matrix printers, they are also more economical as they do not use ink.
If you are undecided as to what type of printer to buy, perhaps these simple suggestions can help. First, consider the volume of output that your printer will handle. For high volume operations, you should choose a printer which is fully-equipped to do heavy-duty operations. This should determine whether or not printing speed is an important feature to look for. Next, consider the quality of output that you require. You can always rent the printer first from one of the printer rental in Dubai shops to try your desired printer first before buying it.
If you are more into quality prints, then find s printer that can produce high-resolution and high-quality photo prints. Lastly, consider the running costs. The expenses of the ink or toner of a printer with reference to the number of prints it produces should determine the type of use that a particular device is suitable for. Either for your business tasks or personal use, there will be a type of printing machine that will suit your unique printing needs.