What Is A Printer And How Does It Work?
A computer printer is a device that can produce a physical, readable version of an electronic document. The document is typically taken from being stored on the computer and printed on physical material like paper.
These can come with various technological advances and capabilities. Some, called Multifunction Printers (MFP) or all-in-one (AIO), offer faxing, scanning and copying equipment attached. Others can be directly connected to more than just computers. They can print directly from digital cameras, memory cards and sticks and other electronic devices. Although printers typically require a USB cable to connect, some have come equipped with wireless connections.
Most printers run slowly, with thirty pages printed per page considered fast. This makes their efficiency somewhat low, and their cost of production is high. For this reason, most printers for in-home and office use are manufactured with the intention of providing lower volume jobs.
As efficiency, cost and production time issues arise, there are several options and models available:
The most common types of printers are called toner-based devices. These use heat, pressure and static electricity, also known as the Xerographic method, to put ink to paper. The toner that is used is light sensitive is utilized and placed directly on the materials.
In order to do this, precision lasers must be used. These lasers provide enough heat and pressure to fuse the toner and materials, and they are available as black and white or color devices. Typically, they are most common in offices as they are very expensive.
Liquid inkjet printers are the most common printers owned by average consumers. They use drops of liquid or ink in varying amounts and dye the paper. Solid ink printers, on the other hand, make use of solid sticks of colored ink. These are melted and sprayed onto the paper by way of a print drum in order to transfer the image to the page.
Solid ink devices often consume large amounts of energy and require a long time to warm up; however, they provide excellent results and are often used for color materials in offices. Xerox is the only manufacturer of this type of machine.
The last type available is called an ink-less printer. These come using either ultraviolet (UV) or thermal technologies. UV printers are still in development and unavailable for purchase. Thermal units are commonly used to print receipts and other monochromatic things, particularly in cash registered and automated teller machines. These use heat-sensitive paper with thermal units in order to transfer images.
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