What features should you look for in a Printer?

"Computer"!!! Unquestionably a remarkable gadget, no one today is unaware of its use. However this machine is rightly functional if available along with all of its components necessary for getting input and providing output in an appropriate way. Those components of computer system that are meant for receiving input from the user are called input devices. You can study about different types of input devices here. whereas the components that are attached to a computer system for getting output are called output devices. Together these components make a computer system anincredible machine to take advantage of.

Printer

Usually, computers provide us a softcopy output which is displayed on the screen of monitor. This output shown on the computer screen is not tangible but we can save these output results on the hard disk for the later use. However, sometimes, the output is needed in hard copy form so that necessary working can be performed on it. For this purpose, computers have an output device called printer.

It’s better to explain “what is printer?” by giving a brief definition."Printer is an output device that is used to provide us a hard copy output i.e. it prints the characters, images, symbols etc on the paper. The resolution of a printed output is usually measured in dots per inch (dpi)".

What features should you look for in a Printer?

Best printer is the one having all important features so that it can provide best output to the users. Discussing multifarious attributes of a printer can help us understand how it works and that where we can take job from this useful output device:

• Easy to use

One of the most considerable features we keep in mind while purchasing any widget or computer device is its "user friendly interface", so that the naive users might not hesitate whenever they need to use that device. Moreover, the simpler the interface of a device, the quicker the results would be as the user won't need to spend a lot of time on understanding and requesting for getting the desired job from the respective device. As far as we talk about printers, they have been designed keeping the fact in mind that users should not face any kind of complications while using them. Hence printers with uncomplicated operative systems are more acceptable than those having troublesome functioning system.

• Reliable

Reliability of printers is very important. Unreliable printers may cause the papers to jam inside the device which may cause difficulty for the user to get the desired output on time. A smooth working printer can work for a long time which is very faithful for those users who want to print large amount of data at a time without any disturbance.

• Resolution

The higher the resolution of a printer, the more defined and high quality print out is obtained. The printing resolution is usually measured in dots per inch (DPI) i.e. the quality of an image or text printed on the paper depends upon the number of dots printed on the paper.

• Printing speed

"Never is better than late!”. It is highly considerable when we ask the question "what features should you look for in a printer?". Printing is a quite lengthier task and for that purpose, printers need to be quite faster and efficient. The printing speed of a printer is usually measured in pages per minute (ppm) or characters per second (cps).

• Operating cost

It is necessary to get to know about the operating cost of a printer before purchasing it. Sometimes printers might not very expensive on buying but they cause highly expensive print outs on their usage. It all depends upon how expensive and frequent ink refills a printer requires. The operating cost is often related to the type of printer i.e. Dot Matrix Printers use to print the text and graphics using inked ribbon. Hence such printers require the frequent replacement of inked ribbons. Similarly, Ink jet printers contain ink cartridges and Laser Printers require toner cartridge refill.

• Memory

Printers must have enough memory to store the data and instructions sent by a computer to be converted into hard copy form. The languages that are particularly used for communication between computers and printers are Printer Command Language (PCL) and PostScript Language.

• Network enabled

One of the major advantages of computer network is “resource sharing”. The expensive resources can be shared and utilized by various computers if they are connected through a network. Network enabled printers also provide this facility of resource sharing over the network. Printers that can be connected over the network can be utilized by more than one computer thus saving a lot of money.

• Duplex printing

Such printers are also available that can print on both sides of the paper. These printers are called Duplex Printers. These printers save money by saving paper. However, the printing process might slow down in such type of printers as the printer need to wait for the ink to get dry at one side of paper before printing the other side. So the terrible question that bothers you when you go for buying a printer is that what features should you look for in a printer and the feature of printer that is most important to know about is duplex printing as printing on both of sides of a page can saves your paper thus saving your money.