And again the same question: laser or inkjet printing?
The previous post , which compares laser and LED technology in detail, caused a lot of discussion. But we will add more fuel to the fire and compare inkjet technology.
Just a few years ago, it was believed that laser printers were ideal for the office, but by reducing the cost of the print and the additional possibility of printing in color, inkjet printing became more and more popular in the SMB and SOHO segment. Of course, aggressive marketing of manufacturers, who have invested a lot of money in promoting their inkjet products (for example, HP), plays a role here. Today we once again return to this issue in order to compare the possibilities of color and monochrome devices of various technologies.
Inkjet, laser, led
When printing on an inkjet printer using liquid dyes - soluble or pigment. They are applied to paper or other media with microscopic droplets of 1.5-3 picoliter. To do this, thousands and tens of thousands of nozzles are formed on the print head, mainly by the photolithography method. For printing, the head moves from one part of the sheet to another, spraying dye of various colors (however, there are printers with a static head on the market, but they are much more expensive than their “traditional” counterparts). This explains the slight discrepancy in the speed of printing color and black-and-white images - all the same, the head must move and this is spent most of the time. On the speed of inkjet printing rather affects the resolution of the print and its filling.
To date, there are two technologies of spray ink - thermal jet and piezoelectric. In the first case, a drop of ink shoots out of a nozzle due to its heating, and in the second, due to an electrical impulse. It is possible to argue for a long time which of the methods is better, but for the user these differences mean only that printers with different technologies need different inks - and the thermal jet and piezoelectric prints are able to provide very good output quality with resolutions up to 6000 dpi.
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As for laser printing technology, everything is completely different here. The printer uses a solid dye (toner) and a special photoconductor that “magnetizes” the paper for subsequent toner exposure. The sheet is simply pulled through the printing mechanism and in the case of monochrome documents, printing speed depends only on the characteristics of the printer.
Color laser printing is a somewhat more complex technology. Conventional laser printers and multifunction devices print in color more slowly, as the application of toners of different colors occurs in turn. At the same time, laser color printers are quite large, and also cost more than inkjet printers and multifunction printers. This determines the choice in favor of the latter in small offices with limited printing needs.
An interesting solution in this context is LED printing. The main supplier of such solutions in Russia is Oki, which produces fairly compact and fast printing devices. This was made possible through the use of single-pass LED printing technology. For its implementation, four-color toners are arranged horizontally along with a series of LEDs that produce an exposure of dyes on paper. The sheet passes the printing mechanism only once, and the printing speed as a result reaches 36 pages per minute without loss of quality (1200 dpi).
Printing technology for specific tasks
Determination of the preferred printing technology in the office should take into account the actual needs of employees in printing. Of course, even within the same technological group, printers will differ from each other depending on the price and manufacturer, however, it is possible to identify common differences “with other things being equal”. In general, inkjet printers have such advantages as:
• Device availability
• Low cost per print
• Ability to install CISS
• Color printing as a “bonus”
Laser printers and MFPs can also solve most office tasks. They, in turn, can boast:
• High toner life
• Low cost per print
• High load capacity
• High print speed in color (single pass printers)
Thus, in the presence of large volumes of printing laser printers are preferable for office use. At the same time, LED printers provide additional flexibility in work by increasing the speed of color printing, but we discussed this in detail here.
Just a few years ago, it was believed that laser printers were ideal for the office, but by reducing the cost of the print and the additional possibility of printing in color, inkjet printing became more and more popular in the SMB and SOHO segment. Of course, aggressive marketing of manufacturers, who have invested a lot of money in promoting their inkjet products (for example, HP), plays a role here. Today we once again return to this issue in order to compare the possibilities of color and monochrome devices of various technologies.
Inkjet, laser, led
When printing on an inkjet printer using liquid dyes - soluble or pigment. They are applied to paper or other media with microscopic droplets of 1.5-3 picoliter. To do this, thousands and tens of thousands of nozzles are formed on the print head, mainly by the photolithography method. For printing, the head moves from one part of the sheet to another, spraying dye of various colors (however, there are printers with a static head on the market, but they are much more expensive than their “traditional” counterparts). This explains the slight discrepancy in the speed of printing color and black-and-white images - all the same, the head must move and this is spent most of the time. On the speed of inkjet printing rather affects the resolution of the print and its filling.
To date, there are two technologies of spray ink - thermal jet and piezoelectric. In the first case, a drop of ink shoots out of a nozzle due to its heating, and in the second, due to an electrical impulse. It is possible to argue for a long time which of the methods is better, but for the user these differences mean only that printers with different technologies need different inks - and the thermal jet and piezoelectric prints are able to provide very good output quality with resolutions up to 6000 dpi.
')
As for laser printing technology, everything is completely different here. The printer uses a solid dye (toner) and a special photoconductor that “magnetizes” the paper for subsequent toner exposure. The sheet is simply pulled through the printing mechanism and in the case of monochrome documents, printing speed depends only on the characteristics of the printer.
Color laser printing is a somewhat more complex technology. Conventional laser printers and multifunction devices print in color more slowly, as the application of toners of different colors occurs in turn. At the same time, laser color printers are quite large, and also cost more than inkjet printers and multifunction printers. This determines the choice in favor of the latter in small offices with limited printing needs.
An interesting solution in this context is LED printing. The main supplier of such solutions in Russia is Oki, which produces fairly compact and fast printing devices. This was made possible through the use of single-pass LED printing technology. For its implementation, four-color toners are arranged horizontally along with a series of LEDs that produce an exposure of dyes on paper. The sheet passes the printing mechanism only once, and the printing speed as a result reaches 36 pages per minute without loss of quality (1200 dpi).
Printing technology for specific tasks
Determination of the preferred printing technology in the office should take into account the actual needs of employees in printing. Of course, even within the same technological group, printers will differ from each other depending on the price and manufacturer, however, it is possible to identify common differences “with other things being equal”. In general, inkjet printers have such advantages as:
• Device availability
• Low cost per print
• Ability to install CISS
• Color printing as a “bonus”
Laser printers and MFPs can also solve most office tasks. They, in turn, can boast:
• High toner life
• Low cost per print
• High load capacity
• High print speed in color (single pass printers)
Thus, in the presence of large volumes of printing laser printers are preferable for office use. At the same time, LED printers provide additional flexibility in work by increasing the speed of color printing, but we discussed this in detail here.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/171785/
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