The 6 Best Printers

Table of Contents:

Anyone who has a computer today usually also has a printer. The device has become an integral part of our everyday lives. We need to print forms, the children’s essay or just a nice picture. It’s usually lightning fast these days. Just quickly press the appropriate button and the desired content is captured on paper. For home use they are available with a laser or the good old ink cartridges. Common to all models is the low purchase price. Cartridges and toner are expensive. But how did all this actually start? When did people actually start printing at home? And how will the technology develop in the coming years?

Our Top Printers Pick

Computer, Notebooks & Tablets: Printers Video Guide

The typewriter can be regarded as the first forerunner of today’s prints. It worked with a ribbon. Over this the letters were brought to paper with a kind of stamp. Whenever a letter was pressed, a mechanism strapped against the tape. A print was made. Later there were typewriters that could store individual text passages. Also quite early were developed pocket calculators, which could create vouchers. They functioned so similarly in principle. The numbers were printed on a narrow strip of paper using an ink ribbon. The forerunners of our present-day printers were the dot matrix printers. In them, as the name suggests, needles worked. They put small dots on paper. In this way, numbers, letters and symbols could be immortalized on paper. Not normal paper, though. Paper webs were inserted into the dot matrix printers. The printers could only work with them. The technology is still occasionally used today. For example, in public authorities and doctors’ surgeries. Wherever documents have to be processed that can only be printed with these needle prints. But also these are replaced piece by piece by modern devices. Because it is very difficult to obtain spare parts for the mostly very old devices

With them, the printer found its way into German households. They work in ink. This is brought out of the medium via the print heads in very small and fine droplets. This technology has made great progress since around the mid-1990s. Inkjet printers came into households through their comparatively low price. Also the cartridges were comparatively cheap. The first models could still only produce very schematic illustrations. The results quickly became much better. Soon photos could be printed on the home device. However, a special paper was necessary for this. The printer also used a lot of ink for photos. That still makes printing photos very expensive. Inkjet printers could print on various media for home use. So-called transfer films are popular. Here you can print a motif that can be ironed onto a T-shirt, for example. So-called multifunction devices have become the standard in the household. They also have a scanner and a USB interface. Photos can be printed directly from the camera. A computer is then no longer necessary. With the scanner direct copies in small editions are possible. Small mobile devices have now been developed for photographers. They can be taken with you and connected directly to the camera

In the meantime, laser printers can also be found in households. The reason for this is the steady decline in prices. Laser printers, however, started their triumphal march in the offices of this world. Laser printers are photoelectronic printers that operate with a color drum. It rotates and moves a laser beam. This hits the paper either point by point or line by line. On the laser becomes active at one point, depends on the respective data. The color comes from the toner. The only difference between color and monochrome printers is the toner. The advantage of this technology is the high speed with which it works. In addition, the results are not blurred by moisture. This is an advantage that the laser has to the ink jet. If, for example, pages printed in this way are marked with a highlighter, the text may be blurred. Such a thing is not to be feared with the laser printer. At the beginning, this technology was still very expensive. She was only represented in offices and companies where quick and good results were important. Laser printers were also very inflexible. So it was only possible for most of them to print on paper in DinA 4 format. That’s changed since then. The devices have now arrived on the end consumer market. As with other printers, it is also the case here that the devices are very cheap to have. Accessories are expensive. For toner, the consumer has to dig deep into his pocket. This is even more true for color laser printers. Home appliances are still very inflexible. Even today you can usually create a maximum of one DinA4 sheet. The technology of colour lasers has developed further for this purpose. The printers can bring photorealistic products to paper. However, this is also very expensive. This is due to the high material input. A photo requires a comparatively large amount of toner. If one color dominates, only one toner cartridge will wear out. The consequence: It must be replaced, although some colors are still sufficiently filled

Over the next few years, printers will become three-dimensional. It will no longer be possible to print only paper. 3D printers are already capable of creating objects today. Nozzles spray different materials into shape. This happens layer by layer. In a certain time a model is created that can really be touched. Which materials are processed is irrelevant in principle. Classically one has to deal with different plastics. But development is progressing steadily. In medicine, the first experiments with organic materials are already underway. Food will also be printed in the future. The devices are now also available for private use. These all work with plastics. However, they are not yet widespread. The reasons are certainly the high costs for material and equipment as well as the complex handling. In order to print it is necessary to create a 3D model of an object. For this special programs are necessary, which cannot be operated without further ado. The computer also needs a lot of computing power. If, for example, you want to work with photos, this must be reworked in a complex way. This is also not possible with every template. As a rule, images must be available from all sides. It remains to be seen where this technology will develop.

Read More Guides Related to Computer, Notebooks & Tablets:

• Best Mainboard
• Best Medion Battery
• Best KVM switch
• Best CD player with USB
• Best PNY graphics card
• Best 17 inch laptop sleeve
• Best WLAN printer
• Best 17-inch monitor
• Best Digital Dictaphone
• Best Ink jet printer
• Best Power supply
• Best PCI Express graphics card
• Best Disco lighting
• Best 21-inch monitor
• Best Asus battery
• Best Socket 1150 Mainboard
• Best Subnotebook
• Best Zotac graphics card
• Best Gaming Laptop
• Best Gaming-PC
• Best Mobile Scanner
• Best 17 inch notebook case
• Best EBook Reader
• Best 13 inch laptop sleeve
• Best Notebook protection
• Best IPad
• Best IPad mini 4
• Best Switch
• Best Desktop Housing
• Best Sapphire graphics card
• Best Document scanner
• Best Wifi antenna
• Best Notebook Dockingstation
• Best 24-inch monitor
• Best 20-inch monitor
• Best USB TV card
• Best 19-inch monitor
• Best E-Ink Reader
• Best Macbook Sticker
• Best 4K Monitor

More Topics in Electronics: