8 Different Types of Printers 【Comparison 2022】

 These days there is a lot of variety in the printer market. You have printers of all types, inkjet printers, dot matrix printers, laser printers, led printer, the list goes on and on. So what are these printers, how do they work and which one should you get. 

These are all the things that we are going to be taking a look at in this article. We also have included a short guide to help you determine which features you need. So here is a comprehensive list of printers that you need to know about.

There are two Major types of printers:

Impact and non-impact:

What are Impact printers:

Impact printers are a type of printers that have now been widely replaced by non-impact printers that were once used throughout the world as the main printing Technology. They work by using a Ribbon soaked in ink and striking that ribbon with the hammer, usually made out of metal or sometimes even plastic, so that it imprints the letter onto the piece of paper.

They are traditionally used for writing up documents and hence cannot be used for drawing images or any sort of graphic work. Examples of impact printers included Dot Matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, and drum printers.

What are Non-impact printers:

As the name suggests these types of printer are those that do not contain any form of impact based printing mechanism. Instead, they use a variety of different methods such as using lasers, inkjets, LEDs to form the image that is required. Since they are not limited to characters or numbers that means that they can also print images.

One of the other key differences between impact and non-impact printers is that impact printers are usually very noisy due to the banging of the hammer on to the Ribbon, but in non-impact printers, such a mechanism does not occur therefore the are relatively less noisy. 

Most Common Types of Printers:

Multi-Function Printers (MFP):

Most commonly used in small businesses multifunction printers are not just used for printing purposes they also have the functionality of other output devices such as scanners and a photocopy is built into them due to their diverse functionality they are a great choice for businesses trying to save some money.

Inkjet Printers:

In inkjet printers are the most commonly used printers these days. Main comes everyday use for professional use; they are far superior to any other kind of printer in the market right now. They have unbeatable image quality and are surprisingly cheap for the performance that they offer.

The best thing about them is that they are also really affordable. You can get one for as low as $50 and for more professional features and better image quality they can go up to a couple of hundred dollars. So inkjet printers offer a lot of variety.

Laser Printer:

Laser printers are slightly older than inkjet printer’s but they are still frequently used these days. They have a laser and an intricate system of mirrors to print an image onto a photoconductive material and then heat fixing it onto a piece of paper.

The use of a laser and moving Mirrors has both advantages and disadvantages, you can find out more about this here.

LED printers:

LED printers are much like laser printers except for a few key differences. They are a lot more reliable, they are compact and they can print slightly faster than the traditional laser printers.

They have become more and more common these days but stores such as Amazon still don’t differentiate between laser and LED printers properly, so here is a guide that will help you better understand the major differences between these two types of printer.

In short, while a laser printer uses a laser and a sequence of precise Mirrors to sketch the image whereas in LED printers small scale LEDs are used instead. Due to the exclusion of a moving part in LED printer’s they are regarded as much more reliable machines.

Features in Printer:

 

When buying a printer there are a lot of things that you should consider such as “which printer produces the high-quality output” which is best in terms of speed. So here’s a short guide that you can use to determine which type of printer you want and need. We have more detailed guides on the differences between Inkjet vs laser printers, so be sure to check them.

Speed:

When buying a printer one of the main things that you should consider is the speed that it offers. Some printers can print multiple pages per minute while others need minutes to print a single page.

If you want to use your printer in an office or any other place that requires you to do work fast then be sure to check out the copies per minute of the printer before your purchase. 

One other thing that we should add is that sometimes copies per minute is not a completely accurate benchmark of a printer’s speed. The time it takes for your printer to execute a command should also be taken into account.

Reliability:

When buying product reliability is something that should always be kept in mind. Different printers have different mechanisms on which they work and therefore they have variations in their durability and lifespan. Any printer that doesn’t have a mechanical moving part is considered more durable than the counterparts since it is less likely to get damaged by simple movements. 

Weight:

If you’re going to be moving your printer then you should consider buying a printer that is, one easy to maneuver and secondly can withstand the frequent changes in position.

Image quality:

This is definitely one of the biggest concerns when buying a printer. Some printers such as some impact printers are better for printing or documents than even the modern non- impact ones. Generally, inkjet printers and Laser printers offer superior image quality than the other types of printers available on the market. So if the higher resolution and better image quality is something that you want in your result then be sure to consider getting one of these.