There are currently two technologies that dominate the personal printer market: inkjet and laser printers. Of these two, inkjet is the most popular and least expensive. But how do they work? And how do you know which one is best for your needs? Hopefully, the following guide will help you answer some of those questions. pitney bowes supplies
How Inkjet Printers Work
When a document is sent to the printer, the printer driver translates the text and images into the inkjet printer's language. After the printer receives information, the controller activates the printer.
The rollers feed the paper into the printer and are positioned at the start of the page. The print head will then begin to move across the page spraying droplets of ink onto the page. As the print head is printing, the motor stops momentarily to spray multiple dots at a defined area to create all colors. When the print head reaches the end of the page, the rollers move the paper forward until the full page is printed.
Parts of an Inkjet Printer & How they Work
The Print Head Assembly
The print head assembly generally consists of two parts - the print head and the ink cartridge. The print head operates the printing action of the printer. The print head contains a series of nozzles that are used to spray droplets of ink. It may be included in the printer or part of the inkjet cartridge. Inkjet cartridges come in different combinations, depending on the manufacturer or model. Cartridges can have separate tanks for each color or one cartridge for each color. Inkjet printers generally use four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to create almost any color combination. If the inkjet printer doubles as a photo printer, it will use six colors, by adding the light magenta and light cyan to extend the printer's color gamut. pitney bowes supplies
Stepper Motor, Belt and Stabilizer Bar
The stepper motor is what moves the print head and cartridge back and forth across a page. Some printers will have a second stepper motor to park the print head assembly when the printer is not in use. The belt is used to attach the print head assembly to the stepper motor. The print head assembly moves across a stabilizer bar to ensure that each row of dots are even and precise.
Paper Feed Assembly
The paper feed assembly also consists of two cooperating parts - the paper tray or feeder, and the rollers. Inkjet printers will have either a paper tray that can be loaded with paper or a feeder that is located in the back of the printer. Both include a sensor that stops the printer when it is out of paper.A set of rollers pulls the paper from the paper tray/feeder and controls the rate at which the paper is moved past the print head assembly. pitney bowes supplies
Printer Driver and Controller
A printer driver is software that acts as a translator so that the printer can understand data and instructions from your computer. The driver describes the text, image, etc. to be printed and translates it into the printer language.The controller is the "command station" of the printer. The control circuitry is responsible for decoding the information sent from the computer, via the printer driver, to the printer, as well as controlling the various motors of the printer.
Buying Guide
If you need a printer to print school reports and the occasional picture, an inexpensive inkjet printers can meet all your printing needsll. If your printing needs are a little more advanced, you can find inkjet printers with added features that will still be less expensive than purchasing a laser printer. The more features you need and the type of quality you are looking for will add to the cost of the printer; however, you can find a printer with good print quality for under $100.
Advantages
- Inexpensive - Color Printing
Disadvantages
- Slow - High maintenance costs
Price Range
- $30-200
Features to Consider
Print Quality
When deciding on what inkjet printer is the best for you, don't let price be the deciding factor. Higher prices don't always indicate the best print quality or speed of an inkjet printer. Before purchasing a printer, shop around and when you have a specific model in mind, if available, ask to print a test page to see for yourself the printer's print quality. pitney bowes supplies
Speed
Inkjet printer speed is measured by the number of pages the printer can print out in a minute. The faster the printer is, the higher the price. The print speed might not be important for many home users but if you are planning to be printing a great deal, a faster printer might be a better option for you.
When it comes to print speed, most manufacturers determine their print speeds using the simplest text in draft mode, so in most cases print speeds are almost twice the speed you will actually have. Print speed will ultimately be determined by the page complexity, the connection speed, and the printer's memory.
Connectivity
Before you buy, check what kind of connections your computer supports. The majority of printers do not come with a printer cable that connects the printer to the computer so you will need to include this cost when budgeting for a new printer.
Memory
Memory will play an integral part in the print speed of your printer. The more memory you have the faster your printer will be. Documents that are in queue (waiting to be printed) are sent to the printer's memory. If you are only printing emails, word documents and the occasional picture, memory is not an important function. Common printing doesn't usually take up as much memory. Look for a printer with more built in memory if you are planning to print large text documents and color graphics. If your printing demands change, there are printers that you can upgrade with more memory.
Resolution
Print resolution is the maximum number or dots per square inch that can be printed, measured horizontally and vertically. The more dots per inch will give you finer details such as sharper text and cleaner images. Look for an inkjet printer with a resolution of 1200 x1200 dots per inch or higher. pitney bowes supplies
Cartridges & Supplies
The real cost of an inkjet printer comes from the ongoing cost of buying replacement inkjet cartridges. If you will be using one color more than the others, consider a printer with individual ink cartridges. It will save you money in the long run because you will only need to replace the cartridges you need. With tri-color inkjet cartridges, you will need to replace the entire cartridge when one color is empty.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Advantages of Buying Your Printer Consumables Online
Buying many things online has advantages; most of them stem from reduced cost. This applies to a wide range of items, not just shampoo, books and computers. It also applies to the printer's consumables.
Over the lifetime of your printer, the bulk of the expense will be the cost of the toner, ink and paper you run through it. Indeed, more than any other part of the printing equation, reducing consumables cost is critical to making your printer economical for your business to use. Consider that for a typical laser printed page, the usual ratio of costs is that the toner is about 0.01 pounds per page, and the paper costs about 0.005 pounds per sheet. Most laser printer cartridges online come at a discount of 15 to 20 percent, meaning that your cost per page for toner comes down to 0.008 pounds per page. Multiply this by roughly 30,000 pages per cartridge, and the cost differential adds up.
It gets even more impressive with ink jet solutions, where the cost for an ink jet cartridge is about 25 pounds in a shop and about 17 pounds online; given the cost per page of most ink jets (about 0.25 pounds per page) that adds up rapidly into real savings. (We strongly recommend that every business shift to a laser based solution for internal printing, largely because of the 50-fold decrease in cost of printing consumables per page.) pitney bowes supplies
Other advantages of buying your printing consumables online is that it may be the only place to buy consumables for esoteric or out of warranty printers. A number of businesses still use things like dot matrix printers, because they get used for computer filled in forms or legacy punch card and ticket printing. Institutions such as banks and railways and air carriers do this, and many of them remain the only source of demand for things like dot matrix printer ribbons....which means that the only way you're going to find the supplier for them is to go online and look there.
Another reason to buy these items online is that they're usually more environmentally friendly than buying directly from the manufacturer. Many of the printer components you find are remanufactured, which means that a third party has taken an already used cartridge and refilled it with toner, or ink - and for ink jets, the quality of ink they use may well be better than the original manufacturer's specification. Of course official branded items are also available, these will cost more but are ideal for anybody who is concerned about buying second party equivalents. pitney bowes supplies
Many online printer consumable companies compete on convenience and service, with free or discounted courier options to get the consumables to your door. They also run specials, and bundle deals that are worth watching for. For people who are printing on a budget, you may not be able to find anything that compares to buying these consumables online. While price isn't the only consideration, it tends to be the dominant one when making business cases on things, and printer consumables are often one of the greatest 'hidden expenses' in an office, and should be considered appropriately.
Over the lifetime of your printer, the bulk of the expense will be the cost of the toner, ink and paper you run through it. Indeed, more than any other part of the printing equation, reducing consumables cost is critical to making your printer economical for your business to use. Consider that for a typical laser printed page, the usual ratio of costs is that the toner is about 0.01 pounds per page, and the paper costs about 0.005 pounds per sheet. Most laser printer cartridges online come at a discount of 15 to 20 percent, meaning that your cost per page for toner comes down to 0.008 pounds per page. Multiply this by roughly 30,000 pages per cartridge, and the cost differential adds up.
It gets even more impressive with ink jet solutions, where the cost for an ink jet cartridge is about 25 pounds in a shop and about 17 pounds online; given the cost per page of most ink jets (about 0.25 pounds per page) that adds up rapidly into real savings. (We strongly recommend that every business shift to a laser based solution for internal printing, largely because of the 50-fold decrease in cost of printing consumables per page.) pitney bowes supplies
Other advantages of buying your printing consumables online is that it may be the only place to buy consumables for esoteric or out of warranty printers. A number of businesses still use things like dot matrix printers, because they get used for computer filled in forms or legacy punch card and ticket printing. Institutions such as banks and railways and air carriers do this, and many of them remain the only source of demand for things like dot matrix printer ribbons....which means that the only way you're going to find the supplier for them is to go online and look there.
Another reason to buy these items online is that they're usually more environmentally friendly than buying directly from the manufacturer. Many of the printer components you find are remanufactured, which means that a third party has taken an already used cartridge and refilled it with toner, or ink - and for ink jets, the quality of ink they use may well be better than the original manufacturer's specification. Of course official branded items are also available, these will cost more but are ideal for anybody who is concerned about buying second party equivalents. pitney bowes supplies
Many online printer consumable companies compete on convenience and service, with free or discounted courier options to get the consumables to your door. They also run specials, and bundle deals that are worth watching for. For people who are printing on a budget, you may not be able to find anything that compares to buying these consumables online. While price isn't the only consideration, it tends to be the dominant one when making business cases on things, and printer consumables are often one of the greatest 'hidden expenses' in an office, and should be considered appropriately.
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