Types of Printers – Which should you opt for?

A solid printer is a key component in any home office. Even as more work is done online, we’re still far away from living in an entirely paperless world. A decent printer is still important for a well-outfitted home office. And even if you opt for a cheap printer, it should be able to cope with most things.

However, anyone who has worked with them before knows how temperamental they can be. A printer can vary quite a bit in both function and execution, and from solid ink printers to dot matrix printers, they can be very different to one another.

The various types have different features, but they also can do different things. So, let’s run through some of the most common types of printer that you can find out there.

Types of Printers

If you’re looking for a printer for your home office, you’ve got to know what different types are actually available. There are plenty of differences between the different types of printer.

They usually come down to the mechanical way that they actually print. On top of this, each model is going to have extra features like cloud integration or wireless, but this is dependent on the model and not the type.

Looking at the various types of printer available can help you decide which is right for you. Each type has various strengths and weaknesses that make one a better fit for your home office than others.

Inkjet Printers

inkjet-printers

Inkjet printers are the type that you’ll probably see the most often at home. These are effective printers that use a printer simple mechanical method to actually print. They’re the main type that you’ll see being used for general personal use. These devices tend to cost the least, and they perform relatively well for simple printing at a low volume.

Inkjet Printers work with ink and nozzles. These nozzles pump small amounts of ink out onto the paper to print an image. These nozzles are very small and they ‘jet’ the ink out, hence Inkjet.

The details of these jets vary depending on the model that you have. Some heat the ink up and others use bigger or smaller nozzles to get things done. By and large, though, these machines print in this very simple way.

The nozzles used in an Inkjet are actually very small. This lets them print in quite high detail compared with older printers. They pretty much replaced every older type of printing once they became affordable, so this is a great way to print.  

If you’re looking for a simple device to use at home or even for a home office than an Inkjet is a great choice. They’re also the best choice when it comes to photo printers, as they manage to

Pros

  • Easy To Operate
  • Cheap Ink
  • Affordable

Cons

  • They Use a Lot of Ink at Once
  • Not as Fast as Other Types
  • Prone to Mechanical Problem

Laser Printers

laser-printer

A laser printer is the other main type of printer that you’ll see. These are high-end devices primarily used for bigger offices or those with a lot of printer needs. These printers have progressed from traditional photocopiers, but the technology is a lot smaller and more manageable now.  

Laser printers actually use lasers to print onto the page. You’ll end up when a finished up copy considerably quicker than with an Inkjet printer. They can run off a whole lot more copies and quite a bit quicker. There are also a lot less prone to mechanical error than an Inkjet printer. It is harder for a laser to misfire or come dislodged than an Inkjet.

These printers are a better choice for you if you need a printer for a large scale office with a lot of use. If you’re printing an awful lot, it can save you quite a bit of money with inc and time. However, they might be overkill for a single person.

Pros

  • MuchFewers Costs Running the Printer over Time
  • Quicker and Higher Quality
  • Better for Printing Quickly

Cons

  • A More Expensive Initial Cost
  • Not as Flexible as Inkjet
  • Harder to Operate and Use

Other Printer Types

Inkjet and Laser are by far the most common types of printers. However, there is a world outside of them. There are some alternative types of printer, but they aren’t anywhere near as common. These are the main ones

LED Printers

led-printer

LED Printers are very similar to laser printers and operate in pretty much the same way, but using an LED instead of a laser. These are pretty much the same as laser printers for their pros and cons, but a lot less common. Like a laser printer, they use toner to print with.

LED printers are actually fairly young in terms of age, as they’ve only been around for just over 3 decades. Although nowhere near as popular as ink or laser printers, they’re still fairly well known.

3D Printers

3d-printer

Although they’ve been around for a while, 3D printers have only surged in popularity over the past few years. You can find them quite easily online, and they’re good fun if you’re looking for something to do as a hobby.

As you’d expect, a 3D printer is a printing technology that’s capable of printing actual objects. This is very useful and will only increase in popularity in the coming years.

Sublimation Printers

sublimation-printer

These are the type of printers that can work with weird materials. They can print onto things like plastic and cotton by using a press and some dye. This is a particularly specialist type of printer so you’ll probably know if you need one.

Thermal Printers

thermal-printer

These are printers that press special thermal printer paper with heat. This reveals ink on the paper which forms into what you need to print. These are mainly used for receipts in shops or tickets in restaurants.

These types of printer are available to you, but they’re unlikely to be of much use in a home office. It is probably easier to focus on Laser and Inkjet printers unless you have some specific needs.

Which Printer is Better for me?

Both Inkjet and laser printers are efficient and printing and have their own strengths. An Inkjet is much more affordable, easy to use, and can print high-quality images or documents with relative ease. So, inkjet printing is the best choice if you’re looking for a photo printer.

A laser printer can run off more copies a lot quicker, and it costs quite a bit less to run. The production of toner is cheaper, though most laser printers are only capable of printing in monochrome, which is why they make excellent business printers.

You also have older methods like daisy wheel printing, which aren’t really used any more. This was an especially popular way of printing onto paper, most used with electronic typewriters, but also with older computers as well.

In general, an Inkjet is going to be best for personal use or a home office that doesn’t do too much printing and a laser is better for higher needs or larger offices.

Conclusion

All in all, it can be difficult to know which type of printer would be best for your office or home. Both inkjet and laser printers have their pros and cons, so it’s really down to you to decide which would be the better choice for your needs.

Outside of these two, we really start to look at more specialist options, like t-shirt printers and label printers. Most of them won’t be worth considering for home users, as the printing process tends to be quite unique and more suited to certain tasks.

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About Alex

Hello, I'm Alex and this is my website, Spacehop. I started the site as a way to talk about myself, and a few years later we're now a team of 6! I still work full time at a major PC retailer in the UK, and I'm a bit of a tech whizz (self-proclaimed, unfortunately!).

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