Characteristics of Printers

A computer comes with hardware and software. The software consists of an operating system and the application programs you use, such as: For example: Microsoft Word. Hardware is the computer itself and its peripherals. Her one of the most commonly used peripherals is the printer. This device takes computer data and creates paper records. Printers vary in size, shape and speed, but they do have some things in common.

Talking to Each Other

All computers tell the printer what to print through an interface. These interfaces are cables or wireless connections attached to your computer. The printer itself does not print. You must specify the text, photos, graphics, or illustrations you want to print.

Dots for You

You can find three basic types of printers on the market, and they all use dots to make your text and images appear on your paper. Impact printers such as daisy cake printers and dot matrix printers use tiny pins to puncture an ink ribbon to form dots. Inkjet printers spray quick-drying dots of ink onto your paper, while laser printers use laser technology to incorporate dots on your paper.

DPI

If you ask the computer to print, the printer will try to produce the results of what you have on your screen. The printer varies in the quality of the point on inches, or dpi, which they can print. Many dots per square inch, the printer can produce higher quality printing output results. A laser printer, such as Hewlett-Packers LaserJet P1006, is capable of printing 600 x 600 dpi or 360,000 points on square inches.

Hard Copy

All printers need something to print to give you a physical copy of what you see on your screen. Paper needs vary between printers, and some printers are more flexible about the type of paper you can use. For example, a specialized photo printer, such as Canon’s PIXMA iP100 Portable Photo Printer, requires special photo paper to print quality photos.

Memory

Some printers also contain hardware memory. Impact printers, such as dot matrix printers, usually don’t have memory, but inkjet and laser printers often do. Printer memory is used to store print jobs while the computer continues to operate. The large spooler or memory in the printer allows you to continue your work without having to wait for something to be printed.