Types Of Printers: What Is The Difference?

Types Of Printers: What Is The Difference?
Types Of Printers: What Is The Difference?

Buying a new printer may be a bit confusing, as there are many new models are released every year. Each model offers different options and has some advantages over the others, so you have to be sure that you picked the right printer for your needs.

How To Make Sure That I’m Choosing The Right Printer?

You have to put the following points into consideration to pick a suitable printer:

  • The price you are willing to pay.
  • The Number of pages you print every day.
  • The size of the result page.
  • Whether you need colored prints or not.

Now, you have a provisional idea about the printer you should pick, but you still need to know some information about each type of printers in the markets.

The different types Of Printers

Printers are divided into two main categories:

Inkjet Printers:

This type is mostly founded at home (for personal uses). The inkjet printers have been in the market for many years with a variety of options.

The device of this type is cheap, but the user has to change the ink cartridge regularly. This can raise the final cost, especially if the printer quality is bad (consume more ink).

Inkjet printers are subdivided into:

Multifunction Printers:

Also known as All-In-One printers, and they are commonly suitable for personal uses.

Multifunction printers provide users with many options as well, as there are many different sizes with a variety of actions to perform and at different prices.

The device is very cheap to buy, but it can cost more than the other types if you are consuming a lot of ink (to replace the ink cartridge).

  • The Basic Features include:
    • Scanning and Printing.
    • It needs ink regularly.
    • The ability to print in black and white mode, or colored mode.
  • Additional Features :
    • Touch Screen.
    • Additional changes in the software to make the job easier for the user.
    • Use the mobile in printing.

Photo Inkjet Printer:

Arts professionals and hobbyists tend to have a specialized machine with more abilities to get the best results.

Even if the All-In-One Machine can do the same function, but it isn’t nearly equal -in quality- to the photo inkjet printer.

  • The Basic Features:
    • Made for artists.
    • Printing and scanning.
    • Need from six to twelve ink cartridges.
    • Print anything directly from the internet

Single-Function Inkjet Printers:

It has the most basic abilities of printers in general.

They are simple to use and are very suitable for your home.

This type of printers is very cheap, but you can pay a lot if you are using too much ink.

  • The Basic Features:
    • Printing (even with colors).
    • User-friendly.
  • The Optional Features:
    • May have a keypad to input numbers.
    • It can be used in a small office as a common device for many computers at the same time.
    • It can print using smartphones.

Laser Printers:

Laser printers are suitable for heavy work as in large offices.

These devices are a bit more expensive than inkjet printers, but laser printers can print a massive amount of papers without ink replacement to compensate for the higher price, so the overall result is almost equal.

Color Laser Printers:

This is the type of choice for small offices, which need a large amount of paper with color graphs, but it isn’t the best option for artists as it uses only 4 cartridges (fewer colors variety).

  • The Basic Features:
    • Needs only 4 cartridges.
    • The best choice for small offices.
    • It can print over 5 thousand papers without cartridge replacement.
  • The Optional Features:
    • High-Speed mode – programmed mode to print a lot of papers in a short time.
    • High security.
    • Eco feature which helps in lowering the cost.

Monochrome Laser Printers:

This type has gone very low in popularity, as the colored laser printers can do its function plus much more functions and in a shorter time, with only a bit more money.

Monochrome laser printers can print only in black and white colors, it can be the best option if you are looking for the lowest cost.

  • The Basic Features:
    • Single Cartridge.
    • You can add an LD-Compatible cartridge to save more money.
    • Suitable for business.

Other Types Of Printers:

Although laser and inkjet printers are the most popular two main types, there are some special printers suitable only for a specific job.

These printers are hard to find, as they can only be found in a few stores.

Solid Ink Printers:

These printers use a special type of ink, which was made from organic materials (e.g. vegetable oils) to lower the side effects on the environment.

Envelope printers:

This type of printers was originally made to lower the effort needed to print addresses or high-quality envelopes (with a higher chance to be read).

The main aim of envelope printers is to achieve the fastest results with the highest resolution.

This type can be used to print addresses, logos, frames, lines, barcodes, and much more at an affordable price.

Conclusion

Before buying a printer, make sure that you have chosen the printer which meets your requirements with the lowest cost.