Output Devices sample essay

Other than the monitor, we also have the printer which is also an output device. A printer generally translates information that has been processed by the system unit and presents the information on paper. As students, we really benefit from such device for in times of projects, reports, and assignments we greatly rely on such output which we refer to as hard copy. There are five features of a printer —- its resolution, color, speed, memory and duplex printing. Resolution is the measure of the clarity of images produced that is measured in dpi (dots per inch). Printers designed for personal use average 1,200 dpi. The higher the dpi, the better the quality of image produced. Color capability is provided by most printers nowadays.

However, users typically have the option to print either with just black ink or with color. Since it is more expensive to print in color, most users select black ink for letters, drafts, and homework. Color is used more selectively for final reports containing graphics and for photographs. Speed is measured in number of pages printed per minute. Typically, printers for personal use average 15-19 pages per minute for single-color or black-only output and 13-15 pages per minute for color output. Memory within the printer is used to store printing instructions and documents waiting to be printed. The more memory in a printer, the faster it will be able to create large documents.

Duplex printing allows automatic printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. But, this one is still not a standard feature of a printer. Soon, it will be because the use of this one will greatly reduce the number of paper waste and will eventually protect the environment. At the present, the major types of printers we use in our daily living are the ink-jet printers and laser printers. An ink-jet printer sprays ink at high speed onto the surface of printer. This process not only produces a letter-quality image but also permits printing to be done in a variety of colors, making them ideal for select special applications.

These are widely used printers; reliable, quiet and relatively less expensive. Its costly aspect is the replacing of ink cartridges. This type of printer can print 17-19 pages of black-only output per minute and 13-15 pages of color output. A laser printer uses a technology similar to that used in a photocopying machine. This uses a laser light beam to produce images with excellent letter and graphics quality. More expensive than an ink-jet printer, this one is faster and is used in applications requiring high-quality output.

Personal laser printers and shared laser printers are two types of laser printers. Personal laser printers are less expensive, are used by many single users, and can print 15-17 pages per minute. Shared laser printers typically support color, are more expensive, and are used or shared by a group or users which can print over 50 pages a minute.

Other than the ink-jet and laser printers are the dot-matrix printers, thermal printers, plotters, photo printers, and portable printers. Dot-matrix printer forms characters and images using a series of small pins on a print head. Once, this type of printer was used widely as a microcomputer printer. It is inexpensive and reliable but quite noisy. Generally, this type of printer is used for tasks where high quality output is NOT required. A thermal printer uses heat elements to produce images on heat-sensitive paper. These printers are widely used with ATMs and gasoline pumps to print receipts.