Understanding Printers and Printer Functions and Complete Printer Types

Understanding Printers and Printer Functions and Complete Printer Types - In the computer world, especially when discussing devices or devices installed on computers, we will often encounter the term peripheral devices. Some of us may feel unfamiliar with this term, even though we often encounter examples of the tools and even use them every time we use a computer.

Peripheral devices can be internal or external, but generally, this term is often used to refer to external devices that are directly connected to the computer such as printers. Even so, some of the devices in the computer are still called peripherals.

Some modern devices today such as tablets, mobile phones, and digital clocks can also be classified as peripherals because they can be connected and used by computer mechanisms. The only difference is that the device can run independently, unlike other peripheral devices.

Printers are output-type hardware that is used to print data from what was previously in the form of softcopy to hardcopy.

In another sense, the printer is concluded as a tool that can display data in printed form, which can be in the form of images, diagrams, or text on paper.

The word printer itself comes from the English "Print" which means "Make" because it fits its role for printing. While in the computer world, printers are included in additional peripheral devices to display writing on the media.

Understanding of the printer according to some experts

Printer Change History

Printer technology has actually been started in 1938. This printer was first made by an inventor named Chester Carlson. At first, Carlson made a dry printer called electrophotography called Xerox.

The printer comes from the word print which in Indonesian means to make. From the name, we certainly understand the role of the printer to print.

In the world of computers, printers include hardware devices that provide written or graphic representations on paper or similar media.

The first electronic printer was launched in 1968 by a Japanese company called Epson. They gave the first electronic printer called the EP-101.

Commercial printers initially used the process of an electric typewriter, but the increasing demand for higher speeds eventually led the printer to a better transition, printer improvements with new mechanisms were used specifically for computers.

Then, in 1984 there was a laser printer, starting with the HP Laserjet. Has a higher quality production.

Around 2010, 3D printing began to be the subject of reviews. Printers used for 3D printing are still in the stage of improvement and have not become commonplace.

Now with the increasing number of printing businesses, the printer is no longer a device that must be owned by individuals.

Printer Role

Print documents

This is the most important role of the printer and the most used and found in our daily life.

The first role of a printer, especially from printing techniques is to print documents. Some documents that are commonly created using a printer are generally documents in the form of letters, articles, and various other types of documents.

Generally, documents that have been created on a computer, using Microsoft Office, such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, will be created using a printer.

Print photo

The second role of the printer is to print photos. Nowadays, ordinary printers, or what we know as desktop printers are very good for printing a photo.

Printers used for photo printing are generally a type of color printer, with high resolution.

Therefore, for every photo that we put on our computer, we can make and print using this printer, of course with very good photo quality.

Even so, sometimes in photo printing using a printer is limited to the size of the photo.

Print banners

To meet the needs of manufacture in media and paper forms that are getting bigger, because of that, a printer machine that has a large size was developed, or what we generally call a plotter.

This plotter machine is a machine-making alias printer that has a very large size and has the power to print with very high resolution. By using this machine, various types of digital object forms in the computer can immediately be easily created.

Generally, this plotter machine is more widely used in printing, which sells banner and banner printing services, or posters.

Print stickers and screen printing

In addition to the benefits of printing on paper media and acrylic media for banners, computer printers are often used to print on other media. One of them is glass media, cloth, and others.

Yes, now screen printing is very developed, so it is enough to just use a printer, because of that you can get a t-shirt with the pattern you expect.

A Scanner

Currently, many printers have an additional role, which can double as a scanner. Generally, printers like this are more placed in several offices, which have high document approval requirements.

So in addition to being able to print a document into a physical form, a printer can help convert physical documents into digital documents or commonly referred to as soft files.

Print 3D objects and points

One of the most interesting changes in the history of manufacturing technology, 3D rendering is becoming more accessible to both professional and local users. Modern 3D printers can produce 3D objects and points using high-quality resin.

3D printing, Unlimited opportunities, Full customization ability, to create 3d designs

Printer Types

Printers can be divided into several types depending on their use and the technology used and the type of printer used

Ink Jet Printers

InkJet Printer is a type of printer that uses "Dor On Demand" technology, which is to print by spraying dots for small dots (commonly called Dots) of ink on paper through the smallest nozzle or pipe hole. A simple way to find out if a printer is an inkjet or not is by looking at what it is. This tool uses ink for the printing process.

Advantages  Ink-Jet Printers :

• High Speed ​​in Perform Diverse Manufacturing jobs.

• High-quality photo making. (Based on Paper and Ink Usage)

• Printer prices are relatively cheap.

• Has the advantage of lightness in printing photos through the camera/memory.

• Has a speed of making it more precise and soft.

Disadvantages of Ink Jet Printers:

• For the process of making black and white, still less fast with a laserjet printer

• Usually, there is damage to the cartridge (depending on the steps of use).

• Ink prices are more expensive because you have to buy several colors.

• The ink may fade when not dry or exposed to liquid.

• It's hard to know the ink in the cartridge is running out (Mode without Infusion)

Laser Printer

A laser printer is a type of printer by using laser light as its working mechanism to print documents. The writing that is printed on the paper is created by the toner powder present in it. 

Laser printers have a role to print files in a printout. However, the way this type of printer works is quite different from an Inkjet printer. The problem is that laser or LED printers work like photocopiers.

Thus, an electrostatic current will be applied to the paper until it penetrates the cylinder and toner. The toner is then affixed to the paper.

Laser Printer Advantages

• Here are some of the advantages that you can get by using a laser printer.

• Has a high quality of making, so that the results of the writing that are created are of clear and good quality.

• The writing does not fade easily due to water. Because it uses special technology, it makes the results of writing not easy to fade when exposed to water.

• The speed of making is quite high. In addition to producing high yields, this printer can print in a short time.

• Able to print on paper of various sizes. This will definitely provide benefits for you when you want to print the same document as needed, starting from small, medium, to large sizes.

• The cost of supply tends to be below, this is because the ink requirement is relatively small.

• Has long durability. Even though the printer is not used for a long time and is just left alone, this printer is not easily destroyed. When reused, it can still produce quality prints. This is because the toner used does have a dry nature. In contrast to Inkjet ink which has a liquid nature and when it becomes dry it cannot be used because the head (printer head) is clogged by the dry ink).

Disadvantages of Laser Printers

• In addition to having the same advantages as previously mentioned, laser printers have several disadvantages, one of which is:

• The result of making a bad photo. Although the results of writing tend to be good and of good quality, the results of making photos tend to be bad.

• Laser printers have monochromatic or one-color properties, namely black. This means that it cannot print various colors. If you want to print in other colors, you have to buy a color laser printer toner which is more expensive.

• The price of color laser printing is getting more expensive. The price of color laser printers tends to be more expensive when compared to color inkjet printers.

• The printout makes the paper quite twisted. This is because the paper that will be created requires heat from a laser machine, the heat-affected paper will tend to bend quite a bit.

Compact Ink Printers

Compact ink printers have fewer constituent elements when compared to other printers.

Besides, this printer is controlled by the temperature and humidity of the paper.

Advantages of Compact Ink Printers:

• Environmentally friendly

• Produce cheerful colors

• Made from non-toxic vegetable oil

• Design

• short Consumables require less and less storage

Disadvantages of Compact Ink Printers:

• Takes time to warm up and cool down

• Prints cannot be laminated

Dot Matrix Printers

Although this printer is useful, it has been replaced with an inkjet or laserjet printer, but both printers have a relatively expensive price.

Until the printer is widely used in some department stores, equipment stores, or several other stores.

The advantages of dot matrix printers are:

• Can print duplicate data

• Overall costs such as equipment and ink are cheaper than inkjet and laserjet printers

• Has a color that varies with the type of color or non-color

• Color printers have 4 colors: red, yellow, blue, and black.

• Can print wide paper sizes.

Disadvantages of dot matrix printers, namely:

• Has a noisy sound while printing,

• Low print quality,

• The image quality is poor, to the point of printing it like a few dots are linked.

• Slow print movement, compared to inkjet and laserjet printers,

• Less color.

LED/LCD Printers

The LED/LCD printer is a type of printer that uses a light-emitting diode system that creates a pattern above the drop in the printing process.

The way this printer works is the same as a laser jet printer, but the difference is in the source of the flow. Where a laserjet printer uses a laser, while an LED/LCD printer uses a light-emitting diode.

The advantage of an LED/LCD printer is that it has good print quality results on text or images.

The weakness of the LED/LCD printer is that this device will be easily destroyed if it is not used for a long time, especially if it is stored incorrectly.

Thermal Printer (POS Printer)

This printer is the same as a dot matrix printer, but the difference is that this printer uses heat while the dot matrix printer uses taps.

We can also see this printer and have been widely used in several stores, such as supermarkets, supermarkets, and several other stores.

The advantages of thermal printers are:

• Not noisy, the sound when printing is soft so it doesn't make a noise,

• Has relatively small in size, and can be placed anywhere.

• The price and ink are relatively expensive,

The disadvantages of thermal printers are:

• Use special paper, and generally, the top surface is smooth and roll-shaped,

• Cannot print on wide-size paper.

Bubble Jet Printer

Although the way this printer works is the same as InkJet, the Bubble Jet printer has a relatively expensive price, but the printing results have very good quality, even like film prints.

The advantages of the Bubble Jet printer are:

• Has excellent print quality on an InkJet printer, the results are soft with high resolution,

• Using stochastic (FM filter) to provide quality in printing several photographic images,

• Several kinds of cartridges can be refilled,

• One printer has two cartridges, namely color and no-color (black).

The disadvantages of bubble jet printers are:

• Prints are easy to fade because the ink used contains water,

• The price of original cartridges and ink is really expensive,

• the microchip in the cartridge sometimes transmits a different signal,

• when using non-original ink, the cartridges shown on the monitor are not full.

Plotter Printer / Wide Pattern Printing

Besides, this printer is divided into two types, namely flatbed plotter and drum plotter.

The advantages of Plotter or Wide Pattern Printing printers are:

• Can print wider paper size

• Excellent print quality

• Not noisy, his voice is soft and does not cause a fuss

• Fast on the printing process

Disadvantages of Plotter or Wide Pattern Printing printers are:

• Has a relatively high price

• Wasteful use of ink because graphic printing requires many colors,

• The size can be called quite large.

DTG printer (direct to garment)

This printer is the latest printer in the printing world that has been changed and developed.

This printer is used for t-shirt screen printing with great technology, where initially t-shirt screen printing still uses manual steps.

The advantages of DTG (direct to garment) printers are:

• Can print in various colors

• Sharp and even printouts,

• The prints are durable so they don't fade when washed repeatedly.

• Print that absorbs into the fabric,

• No need to use a t-shirt press machine and transfer paper.

The disadvantages of DTG printers are:

• Still lacking in many ways,

• Difficult care,

• The price of ink is really expensive compared to screen printing ink,

Stamp Printer

A stamp printer is a type of printer that is used to print a large number of stamps. In addition, this printer can also print barcodes, which are commonly used in some shops, or supermarkets.

The advantage of this printer is that it can print stamps in the same variety as desired.

3D Printer

Advantages of 3D Printers:

• The first is for product manufacturing. Now the manufacture of products can be carried out easily, quickly, and in-depth with this technique, even in millimeter sizes. This is because of the advances in technology that have been developed for software and 3D printers.

• Generally, the creation of an object takes about 1 minute or even less. However, if the object's form is difficult, then it can eat more than that. Compared to creating objects manually, 3D printing is definitely more time effective.

• Can produce several manufactured products such as shoes, jewelry, clothing, phone cases, toys, even cars, and others

Disadvantages of 3D Printers:

• However, it seems that the 3D Printing technology was not immediately well-received by the residents. In reality, he could make a disastrous transition to the life of the world.

• One of the bad effects that can be caused by 3D Printing technology is the death of some manufacturing jobs. The details of manufacturing tasks are usually in the form of tasks that require low power, such as services. In fact, some large countries, such as China, for example, are increasingly dependent on the presence of service-based tasks to meet their economic needs.

• Besides that, 3D Printing is also not concise in many ways, one of which is the forming material. 3D printers have the limitation that they can provide one type of material for one machine.

• Another impact that can be caused by the rapid development of 3D Printing is the death of copyright. This is because people can at will print some of the things they want with only the design capital or images in the form of a soft file. Piracy of famous products is definitely no longer a difficult thing. In fact, popular brands can also be owned, no need to buy expensive ones at the original store.

• Then, remember that people can print anything with the provision of a soft design, it is not impossible if the crime rate will increase. Because, with the current situation that 3D Printing is very rare, many people have pocketed firearms as a result of buying them on the black market. Of course, the risk of owning weapons freely will be even higher if 3D Printing has spread to all citizens.

By usage

When viewed from the point of view of usage, printers can be grouped into individual printers, network printers, virtual printers, and 3D printers. Individual printers are made to provide support for one user or on only one computer, while network printers can be used by more than one computer on the same network.

Virtual printers are actually not in the form of hardware but software that plays the same role as printers and is used to print in the form of pdf or images, the following are now starting to be used frequently. While the 3D printer is used to generate 3D objects from the 3D model that has been created.

Based on technology

Types of printers based on technology have been briefly discussed above, starting from daisy wheel printers, line printers, dot matrices, inkjet, and laserjet printers. Each printer mechanism must have its own character which has been described in the previous section.

For now, the inkjet and laserjet mechanisms are often used. Inkjet uses ink while laserjet uses powder ink or toner. Laserjets produce better prints and can be faster, of course at a higher price too. Some printer brands that use this laserjet mechanism are Canon, Brother, HP, and Epson.

That's my explanation regarding Understanding Printers and Printer Functions and Complete Printer Types