Printers - Providing Hard Copies Of Data

By Matthew Kerridge

A printer will produce a hard copy of any document from your computer. Printers can use paper, transparencies and other media. Printers can be connected using a cable or wireless connection. Network printers will have networking interfaces so that many different computers can connect to one printer. Many times individual printers can sometimes be used to support network connections.

A printer can be connected to your computer or laptop using a USB connection or parallel pot. Most printers also have a wireless connection options. Network printers are used for many different computers that are all connected to one printer.

Two of the most common types of printers are laser printers and ink jet printers. Laser printers do not use ink but use toner. Printing on a laser printer can be altered easily because the "ink" does not penetrate into the paper. More secure documents are done using ink jet printers because think penetrates into the paper. Ink jet printers can use fabric ribbons or inkjet heads for printing.

The way that the document is printed also varies. Laser printers and ink jet printers are the two most common types of printers. Ink jet printers will apply the ink directly to the paper using inkjet heads or a fabric ribbon. With this type of printing the ink penetrates deep into the paper making these documents very difficult to alter. Laser printers use solid inks or toner and the ink does not penetrate the paper so these documents can be altered easily.

There are two different types of laser printers; color and black and white. Some of the newest laser printers use LED technology. With laser printers there is a slight concern of air pollution but if you place your printer in a well ventilated area then this is not a problem. Older machines tend to have more air pollution then the newer models.

Solid ink printers are also called phase change printers and they use heat to transfer the ink to the paper. These are sticks of ink which look like candle wax. This ink is melted and then applied using a print head. These types of printers are very good for printing on transparencies or other types of non-porous media.

A thermal printer is one type of inkless printers. A thermal printer will heat specific sections of heat sensitive paper and are used mainly on older fax machines, cash registers, gasoline dispensers and ATMs. You can even do color thermal printing if you have the right type of paper. - 30529

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