| Printers and Other Hardware |
From "Home Office"
episode HOF-102 |
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Selecting a printer for your computer used to be fairly easy because practically the only factors to consider were price and speed of ouput (measured in pages per minute). Today the selection is a little more complex because of the range of options to choose from.
As with all other aspects in shopping for computer equipment, give some thought to identifying your needs before you make a purchase. Will you only be printing text documents, or will you be using your computer to prepare graphs or diagrams for business presentations? Do you want or need to be able to print out photographic or graphic images?
Printers range in price from around $50 to several thousand dollars.The lowest-priced printers are designed for people who will mainly be printing text, and for whom resolution or print-quality may not be extremely critical. Moving into the range of printers costing between $150 and $400, you'll find models that have higher print resolution, can print in color and may be able to deliver fairly high image quality -- such as when used to print out photographic images. (Printing photo-quality images generally requires the use of specialized photo paper.) Printers in this range also deliver pages at higher speeds, usually around 15 pages per minute.
Consumer-grade printers come in two types -- laser and ink-jet. Ink-jet printers are sometimes called bubble-jet. The following are some characteristics you can expect for each type:
Laser printer - More expensive to purchase
- Less expensive to operate
- Print in black and white only (except for very expensive models).
Bubble-/Ink-Jet - Less expensive to purchase
- More expensive to operate
- Full-page color capability.
Laser printers (figure A) cost less to operate since they use toner. Ink-jet printers (figure B) represent a lower cost for the initial investment. According to Adam Nielsen, sales specialist with Micro Center, "Laser-toner [cartridges] cost around $90 to $150 and will last for several thousand pages. Lasers, however, will only do black and white. They won't do color unless you step up to $2,000 to $3,000 in price. Bubble-jets will do full-page color. They cost less to purchase but cost more to run because you have to replace the ink every several hundred pages." Ink cartridges cost between $30 and $60. "If you are looking to do color," Nielsen says, "you should go with the bubble-jet. If you are looking to do high-quality text, you should probably go with a laser."
If you intend to do a lot of printing, print speed will be an important consideration. In that case, a laser printer is probably the preferred option in terms of speed, quality and cost. Even a low-end laser printer can print more pages per minute than an ink-jet.
Another option that you may want to consider is a multifunction device -- a single unit that can print, scan, copy and fax (figure C). These versatile all-in-one devices start at around $200 in price, with higher-priced models available that offer greater print speed and quality. Their obvious advantage -- particularly for the home-office professional -- is that they take up far less space in a small office than a separate piece of equipment for each function. Before purchasing a multifunction device, consider whether you need an in-home copier and how much copying you think you'll be doing. Also consider whether you need a fax machine for sending documents, or whether e-mail can replace your faxing needs.
Scanners allow you to copy images or text-pages and store them as digital files on your computer(figure D). The images or text files can be saved and printed later or sent to someone over the Internet as an e-mail attachment. With the proper software, images can be edited and manipulated -- or combined with other images -- to create printable or multimedia presentations.
RESOURCES :
How Computers Work
Model: 0789721120
Author: Ron White
published by QUE
PCs all in One Desk Reference for Dummies
Model: 0764507915
Author: Dan Gookin
PCs For Dummies
Model: 0764505947
Author: Dan Gookin
Published by Hungry Minds, Inc
Micro Center
Computer retail store
Web site: www.microcenter.com
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