Printer Technology Comparison: Daisy Wheel to Laser
Posted by |luis eduardo and classified in Computers
Written on in 
English with a size of 2.27 KB
Printer Technology Comparison
Translation 2
Printers
Daisy Wheel Printer
The highest quality of printer available is the daisy wheel with flexible stems radiating from the center. The letters are well-defined and can be read clearly. The printer moves bi-directionally, printing both ways from left to right and then right to left. Remember that what is to be printed already exists in the computer's memory, and the daisy wheel does not have to type in sequence as would be expected from a human brain. The carriage therefore does not need to waste time returning at the end of each line.
Dot Matrix Printer
The dot matrix is usually faster than the daisy wheel. The printer has a print head consisting of a row of needles. This moves speedily over the place where a letter has to be printed, using dots to make up the letter. The needles print onto a special typewriter ribbon. The quality of print-out is not a very high standard and would not generally be used for high business drafts. Characters of different sizes can be built up with dot matrix printers, and some may have two-color ribbons.
Ink-Jet Printer
An ink-jet printer forms dot matrix characters by applying ejected droplets of ink, vibrated at an appropriate frequency, towards a special absorbent paper. A charged electrode is placed near the jet, so that each droplet carries a charge. By a special electrostatic technique, the ink drops can be directed to particular parts of the paper. The printers use information that is stored digitally.
Thermal Printer
Thermal printers require a heat-sensitive paper which is marked by a heated needle-like writing implement known as a stylus.
Laser Printer
Laser printers are very fast and can use different sizes of paper. Since they are non-impact printers, they are very quiet and can produce good graphics. The laser printer works by beaming a laser onto an electrically charged drum, which creates an invisible image on the drum, revealed when a special substance, called toner, is poured over it. Then the paper is brought into contact with the drum; the image transfers onto the paper as it is heated.