PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

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Inkjet Printers


The inkjet printer, which is also known as the bubble jet, was first introduced in 1976, but
it took until the late 1980s before it became popular with home users, largely because of
itsprintingproblemsanditscost.InkjetprintersliketheoneshowninFigure17-3createa
printed image by spraying small droplets of very quick-drying ink through tiny nozzles
(jets) onto the paper. As I will explain later, the print quality of the inkjet, like that of the
dot matrix and—in a similar way—the image quality on a monitor, is measured in dots
per inch (dpi). The greater the number of dots of ink used in a square inch of paper, the
higher the print quality will be.
For the most part, inkjet printers produce a better quality print than a dot matrix
printer at roughly the same cost. Inkjets are also less expensive and usually physically
smaller than most laser printers, which appeals to most home and small office users. Un-
fortunately, inkjets are somewhat slower than laser printers and have the reputation for
occasionally smearing, bleeding, or running the ink on the printed page, as well as fre-
quent page feed problems. In spite of its problems, the inkjet printer offers good quality
printing at a reasonable price and is very popular today with home users.


Laser Printer


The barrier to the laser printer to this point has been cost—not only the cost of the printer
itself, but the cost of its supplies. The laser printer was born out of the technology used in
the copy machine. In fact, its original concepts were developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Re-
search Center (PARC), where a laser was added to Xerox copier technology to create a
printer. The processes used in a laser printer to create a printed document are discussed
later in this chapter.


Chapter 17: Printers^405


Figure 17-3. An inkjet printer. Photo courtesy of Hewlett Packard Corporation
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