 |
 |
Lets look at many different printers: Ink Jet, Thermal
Photo, Black and Color Laser, Wide Format Ink Jet, and
Ink Jet Photo Printers.
Photo, Black and Color Laser, Wide Format Ink Jet, and
Ink Jet Photo Printers.
Printers
Ink Jet Printers
Whether it’s a small, compact photo printer, a standard size printer, or a wide format printer – ink jet printers
primarily work the same way. Inks from cartridges are transferred to paper. These are probably the most widely
available types (ink jets), they have the largest assortment of compatible paper, and you usually can find the ink
cartridges you need at your local office supply store.
The small photo printers are designed to print high-quality photos – using a high DPI (a lot more ink), and better
photo paper than usual printing. These are perfect if you are using it for sporadic printing of your photos. It is
great to have the ability to “run one off” if you need one or two copies, now and then. You’ll find, however, that for
large scale printing (50 copies of your child’s Christmas picture for the annual cards), that it is more cost (and
time) effective to just upload your photos to one of the retailers who offer photo developing. It is so convenient to
send your pics in over the internet – and then one hour later – go pick them up! They will also develop your
pictures from cd or even right from your digital card!
The regular ink jet printers are easily the most prevalent, and often, the least expensive. The expense comes
later when you need to buy more ink. Something of which that many consumers are unaware – most of these
printers today come with only a sample ink cartridge to get started. The manufacturers figured out that since their
printers only cost $40, and the black and color cartridges are usually around $30 each, that it was cheaper for
someone to buy a whole new printer rather buy cartridge refills! I must admit to having a few extra, unused
printers in the basement for this reason.
Wide-Format Printers have been around a while. Cartographers and professional photographers always needed
them to print large-scale items. It wasn’t until the Scrapbook industry boom that the general public seemed to
want to buy these. For a while they were only available at the very expensive price. I had seen them listed for as
much as $7000! But I’ve seen them, now, at my local office supply store, on sale, for as low as $299. The ink isn’
t much more expensive than regular ink jet cartridges, and these have a few extra features. They will print 4” x 6”
photos, they, of course, print on regular 8.5” x 11” ink jet paper, cardstock, photo paper, and transparencies.
They will also print on paper that is 13”wide by (up to) 44” long. This means that they will print a 12” x12”
scrapbook page out without borders. They will print full 12” borders and toppers, and they will print your
journaling directly onto your 12” x 12” foundation paper for your layouts.
One disadvantage of ink jet, other than the cost of the refill cartridges, is that they have a hard time with most
vellum paper. The ink settles on top, and won’t dry in – so it smudges. IMPORTANT TIP: Always remember to
set your ink color option to “black” when you don’t need color for your printing. Many people are using up their
color cartridges needlessly.
Laser Printers
These are in another category of office tools that have made their way into people’s homes. Black and white laser
printers print solely with black toner, from a cartridge that radiates the image onto your paper. These are handy
and practical, as you can print up to 5500 copies with one $65 toner cartridge. (We have yet to replace our
original toner cartridge, and we’ve had the printer for 2 years!) This is the printer we have set as our default
printer for the house. I don’t need color for most of my document printing. I deliberately use this one when
printing anything that is only black – including projects for my artwork, if the outline is only needed in black.
These printers will print on many different types and thicknesses of paper. One benefit of a laser printer is that it
will print on most types of vellum. The toner is heated into the paper therefore it is dry and absorbed when it
prints.
Color Laser Printer
Color laser printers are another tool that was VERY expensive, and usually bought only by very large companies
with a large operating budget! I remember asking for one about ten years ago, and my husband (who used one
at his work) said “oh sure, honey, lets buy 2 – they’re only $10,000!! He went on to tell me how horribly expensive
the refill toner cartridges were, too! They have since dropped in price – or rather these manufacturers have
made more reasonably priced models for home use. The toner is not too dear now either. Now, again, one of the
advantages here is that they will print on most vellum. And, you can get about 1600 copies out of one set of
cartridges. I have yet to replace any of the cartridges (there are 3 colors and one black needed) – I’ll let you
know how long it takes! So far, between the color quality (printed on laser color paper), and the longevity of the
toner cartridges – I use this primarily for my color printing. Especially for everyday color printing, and on
transparencies (bought specifically for laser color printers).
Some disadvantages: They haven’t perfected the “photo quality” for photo printing with the laser color printer. I
wouldn’t recommend it for photos. It leaves a weird sheen over the picture that surely isn’t glossy – even when I
use glossy color laser photo paper! And there are times when the laser printer won’t accept the type of paper I’m
using (too thick or slick) and I need to use the ink jet.
Thermal Photo Printers
This is a nice photo printer. It uses a totally different type of technology than either laser or ink jet. Here the
special thermal paper (which is like a plastic) runs three with three passes (once for red, yellow, and then blue),
and then some of these printers will run it a fourth time to put an overcoating on that seals in the color and makes
the photo water resistant. The pixels are pretty perfect – there’s usually some version of editing and enhancing
software that is used with this printer, but all in all, it’s great for photos. Now it will not print larger sized papers,
and it wouldn’t be something you’d use for everyday printing (of documents or coupons, etc). It’s for photos,
usually 4” x 6”, depending on the printer you get. The manufacturer may sell other types of 4” x 6” papers (for
instance, I can buy sticker sheets, and print these cool, glossy stickers of any clipart or small photos). You usually
buy the paper refills and the thermal cartridge together, and they tend to come to $0.29 a copy per photo. But
one interesting thing to realize is that one photo (or sticker sheet) uses up 6” worth of “ribbon” on the cartridge.
So it becomes irrelevant how much “color” is used in one printing. Ever decide to not use a background color or a
pretty border because of the cost of the ink (in ink jet printers)? I have altered my projects based on this before.
But with the thermal printer, I feel (rather irrationally) that if I don’t cover every inch with color (no white
backgrounds!) that I’ve wasted something! I think most of these printers allow you to print 2 (2” x 3”) per photo
sheet. In this way, you could print a graphic or phrase for a card front, and one for the inside – with one printing.
(They’ll be examples of this in the gallery).
All-in-One Printers
I can see where many people would find this to be all they need. They can print at a good quality, they can scan
and print, and they can fax. There’s a lot in one printer! In the past, these printers were mediocre in their
scanning and printing quality – but the new ones today are reasonably priced, and scan at the highest DPI that
you would probably ever need, and the print quality is as good as you normally see in your ink jet printing (not
compared to the photo ink with photo paper). Most of the ones on the market today are color printers – which
means that you can fax (send and receive and print!) in color!
I hate to call this a “disadvantage” – they aren’t designed for everyday printing, or specialized photo printing. And
the ink jet cartridges cost the same as regular ink jet ones (some all-in-one’s use the exact same cartridges as
regular printers). Maybe the manufacturers will disagree with me, and say you should use their all-in-ones as
your default printer, and use it for all of your printing needs. I just wouldn’t. One thing that rings true about any
combination devise (i.e., TV-VCR or VCR-DVD player) is that if one element stops functioning, you usually can’t
use any of it, so now you’re out 2 things. If you’re not into laser printers for your everyday printing, I would still
recommend an inexpensive ink jet to be your default printer.
