What do you call the type of printer that prints the characters by striking them on the ribbon then pressed at the paper?

Inkjet printers are fairly inexpensive. They cost less than a typical black-and-white laser printer, and much less than a color laser printer. In fact, quite a few of the manufacturers sell some of their printers at a loss. Quite often, you can find the printer on sale for less than you would pay for a set of the ink cartridges!

Why would they do this? Because they count on the supplies you purchase to provide their profit. This is very similar to the way the video game business works. The hardware is sold at or below cost. Once you buy a particular brand of hardware, then you must buy the other products that work with that hardware. In other words, you can't buy a printer from Manufacturer A and ink cartridges from Manufacturer B. They will not work together.

Another way that they have reduced costs is by incorporating much of the actual print head into the cartridge itself. The manufacturers believe that since the print head is the part of the printer that is most likely to wear out, replacing it every time you replace the cartridge increases the life of the printer.

The paper you use on an inkjet printer greatly determines the quality of the image. Standard copier paper works, but doesn't provide as crisp and bright an image as paper made for an inkjet printer. There are two main factors that affect image quality:

  • Brightness
  • Absorption

The brightness of a paper is normally determined by how rough the surface of the paper is. A course or rough paper will scatter light in several directions, whereas a smooth paper will reflect more of the light back in the same direction. This makes the paper appear brighter, which in turn makes any image on the paper appear brighter. You can see this yourself by comparing a photo in a newspaper with a photo in a magazine. The smooth paper of the magazine page reflects light back to your eye much better than the rough texture of the newspaper. Any paper that is listed as being bright is generally a smoother-than-normal paper.

The other key factor in image quality is absorption. When the ink is sprayed onto the paper, it should stay in a tight, symmetrical dot. The ink should not be absorbed too much into the paper. If that happens, the dot will begin to feather. This means that it will spread out in an irregular fashion to cover a slightly larger area than the printer expects it to. The result is an page that looks somewhat fuzzy, particularly at the edges of objects and text.

Imagine that the dot on the left is on coated paper and the dot on the right is on low-grade copier paper. Notice how irregular and larger the right dot is compared to the left one. Imagine that the dot on the left is on coated paper and the dot on the right is on low-grade copier paper. Notice how irregular and larger the right dot is compared to the left one.

As stated, feathering is caused by the paper absorbing the ink. To combat this, high-quality inkjet paper is coated with a waxy film that keeps the ink on the surface of the paper. Coated paper normally yields a dramatically better print than other paper. The low absorption of coated paper is key to the high resolution capabilities of many of today's inkjet printers. For example, a typical Epson inkjet printer can print at a resolution of up to 720x720 dpi on standard paper. With coated paper, the resolution increases to 1440x720 dpi. The reason is that the printer can actually shift the paper slightly and add a second row of dots for every normal row, knowing that the image will not feather and cause the dots to blur together.

Inkjet printers are capable of printing on a variety of media. Commercial inkjet printers sometimes spray directly on an item like the label on a beer bottle. For consumer use, there are a number of specialty papers, ranging from adhesive-backed labels or stickers to business cards and brochures. You can even get iron-on transfers that allow you to create an image and put it on a T-shirt! One thing is for certain, inkjet printers definitely provide an easy and affordable way to unleash your creativity.

For more information on inkjet printers and related topics, check out the links below.

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    Prerequisite – Impact and Non-Impact Printers

    1. Laser Printer :
    Laser Printer is a type of Non-Impact Printer which prints characters or images without striking paper. It is Introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation in1970. It provides a high speed and high quality printing than Dot Matrix printer.

    2. Dot Matrix Printer :
    Dot Matrix Printer is a type of Impact Printer which prints characters or images by striking print hammer or wheel against an inked ribbon. It is invented by Gary Starkweather in 1969. It provides a slow speed and low quality printing than Laser printer.



    Difference between Dot matrix printer and Laser printer :

    S.No.DOT MATRIX PRINTERLASER PRINTER
    01. Dot matrix printer is Introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation in1970.  Laser printer is Introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation in1970.
    02. Dot Matrix Printer is a type of Impact Printer which prints characters or images by striking print hammer or wheel against an inked ribbon. It is a type of Non-Impact Printer which prints characters or images without striking paper.
    03. Printing speed of Dot matrix printer is slower than that of Laser Printer. Printing speed of Laser printer faster than that of Dot Matrix Printer.
    04. Printing quality of Dot matrix printer is lower than that of Laser Printer. Printing quality of Laser printer is higher than that of Dot Matrix Printer.
    05. Normally it uses continuous paper sheet for printing process. Normally it uses individual paper sheet for printing process.
    06. It works having pins pushed against an ink soaked ribbon to paper for printing. It uses fine ink powder and heat the powder on the paper for printing.
    07. It includes Serial Dot Matrix printers and Line Dot Matrix. It includes Black and White or color printers.
    08. Little noise is generated during printing process. No noise is generated during printing process.
    09. Inked ribbon is used for printing process. Cartridge is used for printing process.
    10. Provides a printing speed of 30-550 characters per second. Provides a printing speed of 20 pages per minute.
    11. It is less expensive. It is more expensive.

    What is a character printer called?

    See printer. The Character Printer The desktop dot matrix printer is the typical character printer. It is also called a "serial dot matrix printer" or "serial matrix printer."

    Which printer is used to print characters and symbols?

    Daisy Wheel Printers Daisy wheel printers print only characters and symbols and cannot print graphics. They are generally slow with a printing speed of about 10 to 75 characters per second.

    Which printer create an image on a paper by striking the paper with a metal?

    Option A Solution: An impact printer is a type of printer that works by direct contact of an ink ribbon with paper. A metal or plastic head strikes the ink ribbon, whereby the ribbon is pressed against the paper and the desired character (letter, digit, dot, line) impression is printed on the sheet.

    Which printers print with striking of hammer?

    Impact printers The paper is used between hammer and the ribbon in such a way when the hammer strikes in it the required characters or the document is printed with the help of impact hammer. For example Dot matrix printer, Daisy wheel printer, Drum printer, chain printer etc.