Computer Printer Features and Shopping Guide
A normal computer system needs to have a printer readily available. You will find a variety of personal computer printer features to check into. The type of printer that you need is the first place to start, such as a laser, inkjet or an all-one model. Then you should consider the features and uses that it provides, which you may need, and lastly a look at the specific specs that the particular printer comes with. These include, printing quality and resolution, speed, connectivity and paper handling capabilities.
They also come with multiple services and functions, including scanning and faxing, can take place from a printer too, which is where the all-in-one models come in. In reality, the home user will have a variety of needs, from printing schoolwork, to pictures to the occasional recipe and finding the best printer to effectively handle these tasks and at the best price is always the goal.
Printer Models Guide
There's two primary types of printers made for home and personal use, and those are the Inkjet models and the Laser printer types. Within these come a variety model types, such as the all-in-ones, which include scan and fax capabilities, photo printers and other specific model types. They also come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Overall, the best choice for the home user is usually a color Inkjet model. These printers cost anywhere from $50 to $150 and are designed to do just about everything necessary. And, even though they are slower than the laser models, they get the job done quite well, without breaking the bank.
Ink Jet Printer
The inkjet printer is regarded as the most popular printer available today. It uses small bits of ink to print copy. Each bit of ink will be attached via a small electric charge.
Inkjet printers have advanced significantly within the last decade. The current extremely versatile inkjets could generate both equally sharp textual content as well as vibrant photograph paper prints. The majority of suppliers present both general-purpose as well as photo printers, that won't be the same since the precise photograph ink jet printers are made to print only 4x6 or smaller prints. Since they can be slower at printing they're excellent for smaller tasks, like the ones that home consumers generally demand.
General Specs
Interface: USB, parallel port
Ethernet Resolution: Varies depending on brand and model
Rated speed: 5 to 20 pages per minute (ppm)
Memory: Varies
Paper capacity: 100 sheets plus
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Home Laser Printers
Laser printers are very popular because they yield high-end results, and work much faster than the Inkjet models. These use toner in the LEDs that sticks to the paper. Laser printers are very fast, they usually cost more though, and the ink can be quite expensive as well.
Most laser printers are usually basic monochrome in coloring and perform best for printing textual content as well as simple graphics. Retail starting at around $200. Also, until recently, the color laser printers were too costly for home users, but there are models now available for under $450. Many laser printers also offer networking capabilities, which is perfect for multiple family computers sharing one printer.
General Specs
Interface: USB, parallel, and RJ-45
Ethernet Resolution: 600x600 dots per inch (dpi) and up
Rated speed: 10 to 20 pages per minute (ppm)
Memory: 32MB plus
Paper capacity: 150 to 250 sheets standard input tray
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Multifunction - All-In-One
Multifunction printers (MFPs) or all-in-ones (AIOs) are the cream of the crop in printer models. They offer several features including, copier, scanner, printer, and, even faxing in one neat package.
They come in both Inkjet and Laser models, either with or without photo printing capabilities. The best of these types of models are those that include a flatbed scanner and auto document feeders. The multi function printer models start at around $100 and go up to as high as $850 retail, depending on printer quality and features.
General Specs
Interface: USB
Ethernet Resolution: Depends on the printer
Rated speed: Depends on the printer
Memory: 32MB and up
Paper capacity: 100 sheets plus
Key Features When Shopping For Computer Printers
DPI - Resolution
The very first in the computer printer features to think about is that of the grade and quality of the printing. The quality that the printer will manage to handle is measure by dpi, or dots per inch and yields a certain resolution. The dpi readout is going to be dependant on the capacity of the printer to have the ability to produce top quality depictions. For example, an average printer in the marketplace can have dpi readout of 600x600. Which means that it will have 600 dots per inch on both vertical as well as horizontal areas of the page. the higher the DPi readings, the better the copy will come out.
Printer Speed
The speed from the printer is an additional computer feature to consider. It's shown as PPM, pages per minute, and tells the printer’s ability to print the requisite number of pages per minute. This particular speed changes according to whether black and white pages or colour pages might be printed. A few printers could manage as much as 30 black and white pages within a minute as well as 8 color pages within a minute and others a lot less. Most laser printers will have a much higher PPM, than Inkjets, though they will cost a lot more as well.
Connectivity
The USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a seriously universal port and all printers now come with that type of connectivity. However, the good old parallel cable models still exist. For networking there is a standard Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector. And, of course since we live in a wireless age, you will find printers that have wireless capabilities, using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and even infrared, which are built in.
Paper Handling
The standard paper-handling specifications with a printer consist of almost everything from the size and style as well as thickness of various kinds of papers to the typical as well as optionally available input and ouput tray models. Typically, all inkjets as well as laser models will print on standard paper, both equally legal as well as letter size, they could take photo paper, envelopes and even postal card sizes, as well as heavy weight card stock.
They possess input as well as output trays, which carry a minimum of 100 sheets, with the exception of portable picture models. More advanced paper-handling features need to be looked on a model to model basis, as the higher end models will certainly have more features for handling paper.
These tend to be the particular computer printer features to consider whenever purchasing a brand new printer. Price of course is usually a general consideration for most people today, and avoiding retail stores and purchasing online, is a great way to save some cash. Make sure and check out our large selection of cheap computer printers.
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