Where to Buy Printers and Printer Information

Digital-savvy that we are, we still need to see things on paper, hence the demand for that trusty, top-quality printer. Printers are still the computer workhorses many of us depend on.  Whether you are angling to buy an ink jet printer, a color laser printer or a monochrome laser printer, we give you the data you will need to make a wise purchase.

Print Quality.
Ink jet printers are the best bets for printing photographs, especially on glossy paper. Most ink jet printers however turn out rather fuzzy, uneven text. They’re also not that good in reproducing fine detail required in line art or graphics. Nearly all monochrome and color laser printers print razor-sharp text. Color laser printers also produce color charts and other two-dimensional graphics quite well.

Speed.
Printer vendors repeatedly claim speeds two or three (sometimes, even more!) times the speeds you’ll encounter in real-time printing. More objectively, this is really how printers perform, speed-wise: A monochrome laser printer can print text at 10-18 ppm. A colour laser printer is about one-third slower, at 7-12 ppm. For graphics printing, a colour laser printer’s speed ranges from one to three ppm. This is up to eight times slower than the hyped-up speed.

Resolution.
A monochrome laser printer typically has a maximum colour resolution of 600 by 600 dpi or 1200 by 1200 dots per inch (dpi). A colour laser printer usually offers a maximum colour resolution of 1200 by 1200 dpi or 2400 by 1200 dpi. Even these fairly moderate resolutions for lasers are adequate for printing sharp text and plain graphics. Inkjet models of the Canon printer have a maximum color resolution of 2400 by 1200 dpi. Current models boast up to 4800 by 1200 dpi.

Features.