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Printer technology is a fast-evolving one. From the dot matrix printers of yesterday that cranked out print pages with a lot of noise, quite, more flexible and easy-to-use computer printers are available today. The growing use of computers has also driven increased use of computer printers.
The computer printer is an output device to a computer, enabling the user to print out a hard copy of a document on the PC. Printers can print both text and graphics. Today, very affordable printers have been made possible by printer manufacturers like Hewlett Packard (HP), Epson, etc, giving everyone a chance to own and use a printer.
What's more, users now have a wide range of printer types to choose from, whether black-and-white (monochrome) printers or the more popular color printers. The good news is that whether looking for a used printer or new printer, colour printer or monochrome printer, the market has something to offer to meet your need.
More printer choices, however, could become a problem to the intending buyer who might get confused as to- what printer type to go for? If you are in that dilemma, this printer buying guide explains the types of printers out there, what to look for in choosing a printer and how to buy a printer that will effectively meet your work requirement.
Types of Printers
The printer types crowding the market today can be categorized, for easy grasping, by print technology. Print technology refers to the basic printing mode of the printer. At the top level, all printers can be classified as either impact printers or non-impact printers.
Impact Printers
An impact printer is designed to use tiny wire pins on the print head to strike the ink ribbon, which produces the print impression. That makes physical contact with the paper which explains the name. Impact printers print by impact, with the print head striking the ink-soaked print ribbon. Impact printers are less used now, but are still vital if you are to print on multi-part forms. Dot matrix printers (see below), for instance, are impact printers.
Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers are able to print without such physical impact, virtually photocopying the document. Inkjet printers are in this category.
Beyond this broad categorisation, today's printers generally fall into the following use classifications:
- Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers print by spraying tiny drops of quick-drying ink on the paper to form the text or image that we see. The printer ink for an inkjet printer usually is in a disposable ink cartridge or in many cases, cartridges. HP typically uses twin cartridges for its inkjet printers, with one cartridge for the colour ink and another for black ink. RGB inkjet printers are those that mix the primary colours red, green and blue, while those that blend cyan, magenta, yellow and black are CMYK printers.
Most inkjet printers are able to print at a decent print resolution, delivering quality print. Also, inkjet printers are relatively cheap to buy and you can get for as low as N5,000 as at the date of writing this. You must be aware, however, that maintaining them by way of ink cartridge replacement takes some spending, especially if you do a lot of printing.
- Laser Printers
Laser printers are relatively faster printers than inkjet printers and use a laser technology to print. The print style is like that of copiers as toner is transferred to the paper to form the print impression through an electrostatic drum. The important point for the user is that sharper, high-resolution text is produced by laser printers. When you need sharp, crisp prints, especially for official documents, a laser printer is a great choice.
Laser printers are predominantly monochrome (black and white) but colour laser printers are also available. Because of their faster speed performance, laser printers are good for large print volumes in busy offices. Their toner cartridges prove ultimately cheaper for large volume jobs, than using ink cartridges with an inkjet printer.
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- Dot-matrix Printers
These old type printers will not be needed by most offices today, but when you have to print on multi part forms (think of your bank statement, for instance), dot matrix printers come in handy. Dot Matrix printers are those printers that make some "cring-cring" noise while printing, with the movable print head striking dots on the paper across the ribbon. The dots form the print impression, giving the test or images. Dot Matrix printers are impact printers.
- Multifunction Printers (All-in-One Printers)
These all-in-one printers are printers that roll more than basic printing into one equipment. Called multifunction printers, they usually print, copy and scan. In many cases, they also serve as fax machine. A multifunction printer could be inkjet or laser or even a photo printer, the distinguishing factor being the facility to perform multiple office functions. They are also called MFP's.
All-in-one printers are obviously cost effective. For a small or medium business with a low budget, buying separate printer, copier, scanner and fax machine could be a huge financial burden. A multifunction printer cuts that short, delivering the various requirements in one unit of office equipment. Interestingly, multifunction printers can be surprisingly affordable, with many units available at less than N20,000.
- Photo Printers
For those looking to specifically print pictures, specialised printer units for photo printing are available. Photo printers offer that extra resolution to deliver quality photo prints. Many can print high-quality 4x6 or 5x7 prints and even print straight from the camera. HP, for instance, has a range of top-performing photo printers in its photosmart series.
- Label Printers
Label printers are just another specialised printer tyoe, needed if you want to print and attach labels to, say, a product. Label printers can label cartons of products, for instance. If you need some custom labeling for your product, you should be looking for a label printer.
- Network Printers
At the office or home, you may want to network a printer to multiple computers so that each computer could print to that same printer. Printer sharing or networking is another smart way to cut the cost of equipment acquisition and also speed up work process, especially in an office. Now, every printer can really be networked, so is there really a network printer?
Some printers are designed by the manufacturer to offer network printing readiness. That's why they're called network ready printers. They come with a network adapter installed, giving you more of a plug and play networking. An RJ-45 jack for the connection on your printer would indicate that it has the adapter and is network ready. A network adapter is also called a network interface card, or NIC which could be wired or wireless.
For the HP printer brand, network ready models are usually indicated with an "n" surfix to the name. For instance, the laserjet printer P2015 has the network ready model designated P2015n.
- Duplex Printers
Most printers print on one side of paper at a time. That's simplex printing. To printer on the reverse side, you have to turn the paper, place in the printer tray again and send to print. However, there are duplex printers, which are able to deliver duplex printing - printing on two sides of paper automatically. Duplex printing is double-sided printing - which translates to faster output. In manual duplex printing, you set your printer to print every other page on one side of paper and manually reverse this, at the end, for the second-side printing. Errors are often easy, mixing up the pages. Automatic duplex printers print both sides simultaneously.
- Plotter
These are used mainly for engineering or architectural drawings or such technical drawing printing. Their strength is in reproducing line drawings.
- Portable Printers
Portable printers are built for mobility and are deliberately small-sized and light-weight to be easy to carry about. You'll need one if you print on-the-go. If the bulk of your printing is in the office or at home, a portable printer will hardly be necessary.
Check the Canon range of portable printers, for instance.
Choosing Your Computer Printer
In choosing which printer to buy, you certainly have to consider which of the above categories matches you printing need. Your budget for the equipment would also be a major factor. Beyond these, there are these fine points to note, especially with the non-impact printers:
- Printer Resolution
You definitely want a printer that has a resolution that is good for your kind of work. But what is printer resolution and how would you judge the best printer resolution for your purpose. The resolution of a printer is measured in dots-per-inch - dpi. That's simply as it says: the number of ink dots - dots that the printer sprays or melts to a square inch of paper. The higher the number, the sharper the resulting impression or image. In effect, higher printer resolution makes you print job look richer and more professional.
A 300dpi printer is good enough, but for a serious document (important presentation, for instance) higher dpi of say 600 would be better. 1200dpi would be good for photo-printing, or if your just want a classy document or image. Higher dpi is available, but do you need that?. Yes, most basic printing doesn't require such high print resolution. Low grade printers with relatively lower resolution, which may be more affordable, can still give you a good print result.
- Print Speed
Printers have print speed and this varies between printer brands and models. Many claims are made as to the fastest printer speed, but here again, you just need good enough speed. Faster printing is definitely a plus, as it means work can be done faster, but more speed could cost you more money.
Most printers print at faster rate for monochrome (black and white) printing than for colour printing. A printer's speed is stated as pages per minute (PPM) and you need to be sure you are happy with the stated print performance in PPM, for a printer you are considering. Lower range printers will print at below 20PPM, while the next range will be just higher. However, you can find printers able to deliver over 100PPM. Also, laser printers tend to deliver faster print speed.
- Print Paper Size
Your printer will print out on paper. You need to consider what paper will take your output and which printers use such paper. A4 sized paper-using printers are more common, but if you are printing engineering drawings or anything larger than A4, you have to check if its an A3 printer that you need. A3 printers print on A3 paper, which is wider than A4.
- Printer Ink Cartridge or Toner Cartridge?
This may not decide the printer you buy, since you are likely to buy the printer that will do your job and go for the ink or toner it requires. However, it's good to know, ahead, what you are bargaining for. Inkjet printers use ink cartridges while laser printers use toner cartridges. You need to know the difference and understand the relative consumption rates..
Printer Manufacturers and Printer Brands
Information presented so far on printers, as you would see, is generic. They refer to printers, irrespective of the printer manufacturer or the printer brand name. As an intending buyer, however, you probably want to know a thing or two about what each printer manufacturer offers in the context of the printer technology information presented above. Here's some insight. You will find a wide range of printer brands in the market and your preference may depend on several factors. Having said that, these are some of the best-known printer makers: Hewlett Packard (HP), Epson, Canon, Brother, Lexmark, Dell, Panasonic, Toshiba, Xerox, Sharp and Samsung
The full range of each manufacturer's offerings will make a subject of its own, let alone dealing with all. So, check our separate guide on that. However, here are some snippets:
Hewlett Packard: HP has five main classifications for its printing products. The HP Deskjet printers are mainly basic and mid-range inkjet printers, offering colour printing at affordable pricing. Most will give good performance and can meet the needs of individual, small business or medium business users. They include some wide-format printers.
HP Laserjet Printers are its laser printer offerings. They range from low-priced to high-priced laser printers, some offering network readiness, duplex printing, extra paper trays and other extras. HP also offers a collection of All-in-one printers in its HP Officejet series. These multifunction HP printers will, in most cases, combine printing, photocopying, scanning and faxing functions.
The HP Photosmart printers are specialised photo-printing systems from HP. They provide features and software support that facilitate quality photo-printing. HP Scanjets are its stand-alone scanners.
Canon: The range of printers in the Canon stable is equally extensive. There are Canon photo inkjet printers, which are Canon's set of inkjet printers. These are the Canon PIXMA Photo Inkjet Printer lineup, offering a choice of handy colour printers with high image quality for home or office use.
Canon PIXMA All-in-One printers are Canon's range of Multifunction printers. It includes its Office All-in-Ones and the Canon Photo All-in-Ones. Some with Wi-Fi capability support unconnected printing. Both the PIXMA Photo Inkjet and PIXMA All-in-One collections also include laser printers.
Another set of Canon printers are the Canon Large Format Printers. These include Canon's Graphic Art printers using Canon LUCIA ink or its corporate and CAD printers. The Canon Compact Photo Printer range offers choices for photo printing. Canon Portable Printers are compact, light-weight photo printers, for mobile users.
EPSON: This manufacturer is also strong on printers and offers options that can meet any user's requirements. EPSON has both low-end and high-end printers. Epson Ink Jet printers include the Epson Artisan printer, the WorkForce Printers for small and home business use and the Epson Stylus series.
EPson offers laser printers in the Epson ActionLaser and Epson EPL printers. Professional imaging printers from Epson are mainly in the Epson Stylus Pro printers category. If you are looking for impact printers, Epson should be a strong option. They have several products in this category: the Epson ActionPrinter lineup, the Epson DFX printer series, Epson FX printer range, the Epson LQ Dot Matrix printers, the LX and MX series, as well. Epson also has Compact Photo Printers, the Epson PictureMate printers.
Hopefully, we will find time to look at the offerings of the other major manufacturers and possibly provide some opinion of the performance rating of the various brands.
What is clear is that you have a lot of choice when you need a printer. Choosing what printer to buy will depend on your pocket but also may benefit from information provided in this printer buying guide. While there are several printer types and printer brands, you will only need to buy what meets the printing need you predominantly have. Consider the points made here to choose the right printer.
