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Commonly Used Printers
::
FIGURE 4B.1
Although they are much slower than
normal printers, many electronic
typewriters can be connected to a PC
and used to print documents such as
letters or memos. This arrangement
works well when the user does not need
many different fonts or printing options or
to print a high volume of documents.
Besides the monitor, the other important output device is the printer. Generally,
printers fall into two categories: impact and nonimpact. An impact printer creates
an image by using pins or hammers to press an inked ribbon against the paper. A
simple example of an impact printer is a typewriter, which uses small hammers to
strike the ribbon. Each hammer is embossed with the shape of a letter, number, or
symbol; that shape is transferred through the inked ribbon onto the paper, creating a printed character.
Although it is seldom done today, many modern electric typewriters can be
connected to a PC and used as a letter-quality printer (see Figure 4B.1). As a
printer, however, even a good typewriter is slow and limited in the kinds of documents it can produce. The most common type of impact printer is the dot matrix
printer (see Figure 4B.2). Other types of impact printers are line printers and band
printers.
Nonimpact printers use other means to create an image. Ink jet printers, for example, use tiny nozzles to spray droplets of ink onto the page. Laser printers work
like photocopiers, using heat to bond microscopic particles of dry toner to specific
parts of the page (see Figure 4B.3).
In the early years of computing, dot matrix printers were the most commonly
used printing devices. They are not as prevalent now, although dot matrix printers are still popular in business and academic settings because they are relatively
fast and inexpensive to operate, and
they do a good job of printing text and
simple graphics. Ink jet printers now
offer much higher quality for about
the same price, and they have become
more popular than dot matrix printers
in homes and small businesses. Laser
printers are also popular in homes and
businesses, but they are more expensive to buy and operate than either ink
jet or dot matrix devices.
Dot Matrix Printers
::
FIGURE 4B.2
Many people think dot matrix printers are
obsolete, but these printers are still
widely sold and used. They are
inexpensive compared to other kinds of
printers and while they are not well
suited to printing graphics, good dot
matrix printers can produce high-quality
text documents. Like other types of
impact printers, dot matrix printers can
be used with carbon-copy and other
kinds of copy forms.
162
Chapter 4
Dot matrix printers are commonly
used in workplaces where physical impact with the paper is important, such
as when the user is printing to carboncopy or pressure-sensitive forms.
These printers can produce sheets of
plain text very quickly.
They also are used to
print very wide sheets, as
data processing departments often use when
generating large reports
with wide columns of information.
A dot matrix printer
creates an image by using
a mechanism called a
print head, which contains a cluster (or matrix)
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of short pins arranged in one or more columns. On receiving instructions from the PC, the printer can push any
of the pins out in any combination. By pushing out pins
in various combinations, the print head can create alphanumeric characters (see Figures 4B.4 and 4B.5).
When pushed out from the cluster, the protruding pins’
ends strike a ribbon, which is held in place between the
print head and the paper. When the pins strike the ribbon,
they press ink from the ribbon onto the paper.
The more pins that a print head contains, the higher
the printer’s resolution. The lowest-resolution dot matrix
printers have only nine pins; the highest-resolution printers have 24 pins.
The speed of dot matrix printers is measured in characters per second (cps). The slowest dot matrix printers
create 50 to 70 characters per second; the fastest print more than 500 cps.
Although dot matrix printers are not commonly used in homes, they are still
widely used in business, as are other types of impact printers:
>> Line Printers. A line printer is a special type of impact printer. It works like a
>>
dot matrix printer but uses a special wide print head that can print an entire
line of text at one time (see Figure 4B.6). Line printers do not offer high resolution but are incredibly fast; the fastest can print 3,000 lines of text per
minute.
Band Printers A band printer features a rotating band embossed with
alphanumeric characters. To print a character, the machine rotates the band
to the desired character, then a small hammer taps the band,
pressing the character against a ribbon. Although this sounds
like a slow process, band printers are very fast and very robust.
Depending on the character set used, a good-quality band
printer can generate 2,000 lines of text per minute.
::
FIGURE 4B.4
A dot matrix printer forms a character by
creating a series of dots.
ONLINE
In a 24-pin print head, the pins
are “staggered” in two rows.
This enables it to print overlapping dots, creating finer
characters and lines.
PRINT HEAD
Laser printers produce the highestquality text output, as well as graphics.
Laser printers are commonly found in
business settings where many people
need to print documents. Sophisticated
high-volume laser printers are often
connected to networks and handle
printing tasks for large workgroups.
Norton
In a 9-pin print head, the pins
are aligned in a single row.
The bottom pins are used for
the portions of lowercase letters
that extend below the line, such
as g or q.
::
FIGURE 4B.3
For more information on dot
matrix printers, visit
http://www.mhhe.com/
peternorton.
PRINT HEAD
::
FIGURE 4B.5
Direction of print head
How a dot matrix printer creates an
image.
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Ink Jet Printers
::
FIGURE 4B.6
Line printers use a special wide print
head to print an entire line of text at one
time.
Ink jet printers create an image directly on the paper by spraying ink
through tiny nozzles (see Figure 4B.7). The popularity of ink jet printers
jumped around 1990 when the speed and quality improved and prices
plummeted. Today, good ink jet printers are available for less than $100.
These models typically attain print resolutions of at least 300 dots per
inch. These same models can print from two to four pages per minute
(only slightly slower than the slowest laser printers).
Compared to laser printers, the operating cost of an ink jet printer is
relatively low. Expensive maintenance is rare, and the only part that
needs routine replacement is the ink cartridge, which ranges in price
from $20 to $35. Many ink jet printers use one cartridge for color
printing and a separate black-only cartridge for black-and-white printing. This feature saves money by reserving colored ink only for color
printing.
Color ink jet printers have four ink nozzles: cyan (blue), magenta
(red), yellow, and black. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as CMYK
printers, or as using the CMYK color process. These four colors are used in almost all color printing because it is possible to combine them to create any color.
Notice that the colors are different from the primary additive colors (red, green,
and blue) used in monitors. Printed color is the result of light bouncing off the
paper, not color transmitted directly from a light source. Consequently, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are sometimes called subtractive colors and color printing is sometimes called four-color printing. When used with special printing
paper, many ink jet printers can produce photo-quality images. For this reason,
they are often used to print pictures taken with a digital camera.
Norton
Paper
ONLINE
For more information on
ink jet printers, visit
http://www.mhhe.com/
peternorton.
Sprayed ink
forms character
Ink droplets
+
- + Horizontal
plates
::
FIGURE 4B.7
How an ink jet printer creates an image.
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Chapter 4
Ink fountain
Nozzle
Electrically charged
plates control direction
of ink jet spray.
Vertical
plates
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Laser Printers
Laser printers are more expensive than ink jet printers, their print quality is
higher, and most are faster. As their name implies, a laser is at the heart of these
printers. A CPU and memory are built into the printer to interpret the data that it
receives from the computer and to control the laser. The result is a complicated
piece of equipment that uses technology similar to that in photocopiers. Figure
4B.8 shows how a laser printer works. The quality and speed of laser printers
make them ideal for office environments, where several users can easily share the
same printer via a network.
Just as the electron gun in a monitor can target any pixel, the laser in a laser
printer can aim at any point on a drum, creating an electrical charge. Toner,
which is composed of tiny particles of ink, sticks to the drum in the places the
laser has charged. Then, with pressure and heat, the toner is transferred off the
drum onto the paper. The amount of memory that laser printers contain determines the speed at which documents are printed.
A color laser printer works like a single-color model, except that the process is
repeated four times and a different toner color is used for each pass. The four colors used are the same as in the color ink jet printers: cyan, magenta, yellow, and
black.
Single-color (black) laser printers typically can produce between 4 and 16
pages of text a minute. If you are printing graphics, the output can be a great deal
slower. The most common laser printers have resolutions of 300 or 600 dpi, both
horizontally and vertically, but some high-end models have resolutions of 1,200
or 1,800 dpi. The printing industry stipulates a resolution of at least 1,200 dpi for
top-quality professional printing. It is difficult to detect the difference between
text printed at 600 dpi and at 1,200 dpi; the higher resolution is most noticeable
in graphics reproduction such as photographs and artwork.
Laser printers start at about $150, and the price increases dramatically along
with speed and resolution. Color laser printers are considerably more expensive
than single-color printers. In addition, laser printers require new toner cartridges
after a few thousand pages, and toner cartridges can cost anywhere from $40 to
$200.
4 Toner is transferred to the
charged paper by the drum.
Norton
ONLINE
For more information on
laser printers, visit
http://www.mhhe.com/
peternorton.
::
FIGURE 4B.8
How a laser printer creates a printed
page.
5 Hot roller bonds toner to paper.
Output tray
Roller
Rotating mirror
1 Stack of
paper in
input tray
Paper path
Drum
Toner
Magnetic roller
2 Paper is given
a static charge.
Laser
3 Rotating mirror reflects laser,
which projects image of the page
onto the rotating drum.
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All-in-One Peripherals
Several printer makers now use ink jet or laser printers as the basis for
all-in-one peripherals (see Figure 4B.9). These devices combine printing
capabilities with scanning, photocopying, and faxing capabilities.
Small, lightweight, and easy to use, all-in-one devices are popular in
home offices and small businesses, among users who cannot afford
to buy several professional-quality devices for these tasks.
All-in-one peripherals are available in black-and-white and color
models, at prices as low as $200. Laser-based models are significantly
more expensive than ink jet models, especially when color printing is
required.
::
Comparing Printers
FIGURE 4B.9
All-in-one office machines, like this one,
include a printer, copier, scanner, and fax.
When you are ready to buy a printer, you must consider how you plan to use it.
Do you need to print only text, or are graphics capabilities also important? Do
you need to print in color? Will you need to print a wide variety of fonts in many
sizes? How quickly do you want your documents to be printed?
When evaluating printers, four additional criteria are important:
>> Image Quality. Image quality, also known as print resolution, is usually mea-
Norton
ONLINE
For more information on
all-in-one peripherals, visit
http://www.mhhe.com/
peternorton.
>>
>>
::
sured in dots per inch (dpi). The more dots per inch a printer can produce,
the higher its image quality. For example, most medium-quality ink jet and
laser printers can print 300 or 600 dots per inch, which is fine for most daily
business applications. If a printer’s resolution is 600 dpi, this means it can
print 600 columns of dots and 600 rows of dots in each square inch of the
page, a total of 360,000 dots (600 600 = 360,000) per inch, as shown in
Figure 4B.10. Professional-quality printers, used for creating colorful presentations, posters, or renderings, offer resolutions of 1,800 dpi or even higher.
Speed. Printer speed is measured in the number of pages per minute (ppm)
the device can print. (As you learned earlier, however, the speed of dot matrix printers is measured in characters per second.) Most printers have different ppm ratings for text and graphics because graphics generally take longer
to print. As print speed goes up, so does cost. Most consumer-level laser
printers offer print speeds of 6 or 8 ppm, but high-volume professional laser
printers can exceed 50 ppm.
Initial Cost. The cost of new printers has fallen dramatically in recent years,
while their capabilities and speed have improved just as dramatically. It is
possible to buy a good-quality ink jet printer for personal use for less than
$100; low-end laser printers can be found for less than $200. Professionalquality, high-output systems can range in price from $1,000 to tens of thousands of dollars. Color printers always cost more than black-and-white
printers, and this is especially true of laser printers.
600 dots
across
FIGURE 4B.10
The image quality of laser and ink jet
printers is measured in dots per inch.
166
Chapter 4
600 dots
down
1 square
inch:
360,000
dots
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>> Cost of Operation. The cost of ink
or toner and maintenance varies
with the type of printer (see Figure
4B.11). Many different types of
printer paper are available, too,
and the choice can affect the cost
of operation. Low-quality recycled
paper, for example, is fine for
printing draft-quality documents
and costs less than a penny per
sheet. Glossy, thick, photo-quality
stock, used for printing photographs, can cost several dollars
per sheet depending on size.
SELF-CHECK ::
Circle the correct answer for each question.
1. When discussing printers, image quality is also known as this.
a. output
b. resolution
c. ppm
2. In a dot matrix printer, this component contains a cluster (or matrix) of pins.
a. print head
b. cartridge
3. A laser printer’s speed is measured in
a. cps
b. ppm
c. drum
.
c. dpi
High-Quality Printers
Although most offices and homes use
ink jet or laser printers, other types of
printers are used for special purposes.
These printers are often used by publishers and small print shops to create
high-quality output, especially color
output. The last type discussed in this
section, the plotter, is designed specifically for printing large-format construction and engineering documents.
Photo Printers
With digital cameras and scanners becoming increasingly popular, users
want to be able to print the images
they create or scan. While the average
color ink jet or laser printer can handle this job satisfactorily, many people are investing in special photo
printers (see Figure 4B.12). Many
photo printers use ink jet technology,
but a few use dye-sublimation technology. The best photo printers can
create images that look nearly as
good as a photograph printed using
traditional methods.
Photo printers work slowly; some
can take two to four minutes to create
a printout. Several models create
prints no larger than a standard 4 6-inch snapshot, although newer
photo printers can produce 8 × 10inch or even 11 × 14-inch prints.
Many larger-format photo printers
can print multiple images on a single
sheet of paper (see Figure 4B.13).
::
FIGURE 4B.11
For all their speed and convenience,
high-volume printers can be costly to
maintain. Toner cartridges for highquality laser printers can cost well over
$100 apiece.
::
FIGURE 4B.12
Photo printers make it easy to print
images taken with a digital camera.
::
FIGURE 4B.13
Many photo printers can output prints in
a variety of sizes.
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>>
The Care and Feeding of Printers
Whether you own a $50 dot matrix printer or a $5,000 color
laser printer, you want to get the most from your investment. Although today’s printers are much more durable than
those of a decade ago, they still work better and last longer
if they are properly maintained. Luckily, most consumergrade printers are easy to take care of. Here are some tips
that will help you get years of service from your printer, no
matter what kind of device it is.
Getting Basic Information
When maintaining your printer, the best place to start is the
owner’s manual. Check it for specific instructions on setting
up, cleaning, clearing out paper jams, replacing components,
and other maintenance-related tasks. You may be able to
find these instructions on the manufacturer’s Web site.
Always unplug your printer and let it cool down completely before doing any maintenance or cleaning. All
printers—especially units that are used a lot—get hot inside, possibly hot enough to burn you. To avoid shock, disconnect the printer’s cables from your computer or network.
Also, be sure to remove the paper from the printer before
working on it.
Positioning a Printer
through the printer. This keeps down dust and avoids overheating. Avoid crowding objects (such as stacks of books or
boxes) around the printer, or you may block air flow. Never
stack anything on top of a printer; the weight can cause
malfunctions.
Cleaning a Printer
Printers usually don’t require heavy cleaning, but paper dust
and airborne particles can collect inside a printer, adding to
heat build-up and leading to mechanical problems. You can
clean the outside surfaces of most printers with a dry or
damp cloth, but don’t use solvents or spray cleaners, which
may be harmful to some printer parts.
To clean the inside of the printer, open it up and remove
all paper. Remove the toner cartridge, ink cartridges, or ribbon as your owner’s manual directs. Use a lint-free cloth or
swabs to gently remove built-up dust and dirt. Do not use a
wet cloth, and never spray any kind of liquid cleaner into
your printer unless the manufacturer recommends doing so.
If the printer has a great deal of dust built up inside, you
can use a vacuum cleaner with a narrow nozzle to pull out
the dust. If dust appears to be stuck or is embedded in tiny
spaces, use a can of compressed air to blast it loose, then
vacuum it out.
Make sure your printer has room to breathe. This means setting up so there is space around it, to allow air to flow
::
FIGURE 4B.14
Many photo printers accept the memory
card from a digital camera, freeing you
from connecting the printer to the
camera or to a computer.
168
Chapter 4
Because ink jet photo printers spray so much ink on the paper, it can take several minutes for a printout to dry, so smearing can be a problem. Still, these printers give digital
photography enthusiasts a way to print and display their photos in hard-copy form. Photo printers range in price from
$200 to more than $500, and the cost per print ranges from a
few cents to a dollar (several times more expensive than traditional film processing).
One advantage of the newest photo printers is that they do
not need a computer. These photo printers feature slots for
memory cards used by many digital cameras (see Figure
4B.14). Instead of connecting the printer to a computer, the
user can simply remove the memory card from the camera
and plug it into the printer. Some photo printers can connect directly to a camera
by a cable or even by an infrared connection.
Thermal-Wax Printers
Thermal-wax printers are used primarily for presentation graphics and handouts.
They create bold colors and have a low per-page cost for printouts with heavy
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Dealing with Paper Jams
For years, paper jams have been the scourge of computer
users. They strike at the worst times, and can take a long
time to clear out. The best way to solve this problem is to
prevent it:
>> Make sure your paper is compatible with your printer.
If you experience a paper jam, see your owner’s manual for
instructions on clearing it. If paper jams are a common
problem, contact the manufacturer for help.
::
Compressed air is inexpensive and easy to use and can help keep
your printer in top shape.
there’s a good chance that your printer’s driver is built into
the operating system. If not, you can install your printer’s
driver from the disk that comes with the printer.
Printer makers sometimes release updated versions of
their printers’ drivers, and it’s a good idea to make sure that
you are using the most current driver. To check for updated
drivers, visit the manufacturer’s Web site. If you use Microsoft’s Windows Update service, your updated drivers may
be available there. For more information on Windows Update, visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Maintaining Your Drivers
Printers use special programs, called drivers, which enable
them to communicate and exchange data with your PC and
programs. If you use Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, or XP, then
color requirements, such as posters or book
covers. The process creates vivid colors because the inks do not bleed into each other
or soak the specially coated paper. Thermalwax printers operate with a ribbon coated
with panels of colored wax that melts and
adheres to plain paper as colored dots when
passed over a focused heat source.
::
FIGURE 4B.15
Dye-sublimation printers come in a wide
range of sizes and are used to print all
kinds of high-resolution color documents,
such as photographs, presentation
graphics, posters, and t-shirts.
Dye-Sublimation Printers
Desktop publishers and graphic artists get
realistic quality and color for photo images
using dye-sublimation (dye-sub) printers
(see Figure 4B.15). In dye-sublimation technology, a ribbon containing panels of color
is moved across a focused heat source capable of subtle temperature variations. The
heated dyes evaporate from the ribbon and
diffuse on specially coated paper or another
Seeing, Hearing, and Printing Data
PRODUCTIVITY TIP
Some ink jet printers, for example, do not work well with
thick, glossy paper. Check your manual to see what
weights and sizes of paper will work best with your
printer.
>> Set the printer on an even, level surface. Tilting can encourage paper jams.
>> Don’t overfill the paper tray. Paper must be flat and able
to slide freely through the mechanism. If the tray is
crammed with paper, the sheets may be buckled or
stuffed in too tightly to move.
169
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>>
Computer Training Specialist
Not everyone is proficient with computers, and not everyone wants to be. It’s Karen Koenig’s job to make sure that
the students she’s working with leave her classroom not
only more knowledgeable about computers, but also more
confident in their ability to use them in daily life.
“Once in a while I’ll get a student who is afraid to touch
the computer, for fear that he or she may delete files or
mess something up,” says Koenig, a computer training specialist in the Professional and Community Education area of
Bowling Green State University’s Continuing & Extended Education program located in Bowling Green, Ohio. “It’s very
rewarding when that same person walks out of my classroom feeling much more comfortable using technology.”
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Koenig
earned her degree in business education and is a certified
Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS). She began her career teaching a sole computer class, and later became a
full-time instructor. Koenig spends her time teaching both
day and evening classes of university faculty/staff and
other adult students on how to use computers and specific
applications like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. Along
the way, she’s mastered applications such as HTML for Web
site building and university-specific programs, such as a
calendar-scheduling application used by faculty and staff.
Koenig sees future opportunities for computer trainers as
good, based on how integrated computers are in our everyday lives. “It’s amazing just how many people know nothing
about computers, even though they’ve been around for so
long,” says Koenig, who is continually updating her own
skills to meet her students’ needs.
A successful trainer needs a strong background in general computer hardware and software. This means that a
trainer should have a solid understanding of how a computer system functions and a mastery of current operating
systems and common application software.
material, where they form areas of different colors. The variations in color are related to the intensity of the heat applied. Dye-sub printers create extremely sharp
images, but they are slow and costly. The special paper they require can make the
per-page cost as high as $3 to $4.
Plotters
A plotter is a special kind of output device. It is like a printer because it produces
images on paper, but the plotter is typically used to print large-format images,
such as construction drawings created by an architect.
Early plotters were bulky, mechanical devices that used robotic arms, which literally drew the image on a piece of paper. Table plotters (or flatbed plotters) use
two robotic arms, each of which holds a set of colored ink pens, felt pens, or pencils. The two arms work in concert, operating at right angles as they draw on a
stationary piece of paper. In addition to being complex and large (some are almost
as big as a billiard table), table plotters are notoriously slow;
a large, complicated drawing can take
several hours to print.
::
FIGURE 4B.16
A roller plotter uses a robotic arm to
draw with colored pens on oversized
paper. Here, an architectural drawing is
being printed.
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COMPUTERS IN YOUR CAREER
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Often, trainers must get additional instruction or certification if they want to teach others to use certain programs.
Companies such as Microsoft and Oracle, for example, offer
trainer-certification programs that ensure employers that a
trainer has mastered certain products and is qualified to
teach others how to use them.
The pay scale for computer training specialists covers a
wide range. Freelance trainers, for instance, may charge an
hourly rate (ranging from $25 to $50, or higher), which
goes up with the complexity of the programs being taught.
The annual salary for full-time trainers can start out in the
$18,000 to $30,000 range, but can go up with experience
and expertise. Top-level trainers (who teach other trainers
and develop training courses or materials) can earn $50,000
per year or more.
A variation on the table plotter is the roller plotter (also known as the drum
plotter), which uses only one drawing arm but moves the paper instead of holding it flat and stationary (see Figure 4B.16). The drawing arm moves side to side
as the paper is rolled back and forth through the roller. Working together, the arm
and roller can draw perfect circles and other geometric shapes, as well as lines of
different weights and colors.
In recent years, mechanical plotters have been displaced by thermal, electrostatic, and ink jet plotters, as well as large-format dye-sub printers. These devices,
which also produce large-size drawings, are faster and cheaper to use than their
mechanical counterparts. They also can produce full-color renderings as well as
geometric line drawings, making them more useful than standard mechanical
plotters (see Figure 4B.17).
::
FIGURE 4B.17
Like desktop ink jet printers, an ink jet
plotter uses a spray system to create
either simple line drawings or detailed
artistic renderings.
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/ / 4B
Summary ::
Page 172
Review
>> Printers fall into two general categories: impact and nonimpact.
>> Impact printers create an image on paper by using a device to strike an inked rib>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
172
Chapter 4
bon, pressing ink from the ribbon onto the paper. Nonimpact printers use various
methods to place ink on the page.
When evaluating printers for purchase, you should consider four criteria: image quality, speed, initial cost, and cost of operation.
A dot matrix printer is an impact printer. It uses a print head that contains a cluster
of pins. The printer can push the pins out in rapid sequence to form patterns. The
pins are used to press an inked ribbon against paper, creating an image.
The speed of dot matrix printers is measured in characters per second. The fastest
ones can print 500 characters each second.
An ink jet printer is an example of a nonimpact printer. It creates an image by spraying tiny droplets of ink onto the paper.
Ink jet printers are inexpensive for both color and black printing, have low operating costs, and offer quality and speed comparable to low-end laser printers.
Laser printers are nonimpact printers. They use heat and pressure to bond tiny particles of toner (a dry ink) to paper.
Laser printers produce higher-quality print and are fast and convenient to use, but
they are also more expensive than ink jet printers. Laser printers are available in
both color and black and white, and the highest-end laser printers provide resolutions of 1,200 dpi and greater.
Thermal-wax and dye-sublimation printers are used primarily by print shops and publishers to create high-quality color images.
Photo printers are specialized printers used to print color photographs taken with
digital cameras.
Plotters create large-format images, usually for architectural or engineering purposes, using mechanical drawing arms, ink jet technology, or thermal printing technology.