How Do Laser Printers Work?

Laser printers are becoming increasingly popular among home and business users due to their ability to print faster than an inkjet printer. Laser printers might be more expensive, but the cost of maintenance is lower than inkjet printers.

Your printing needs will determine which printer you need.

How Laser Printers Work

Rasterizing an Image

When a document is sent to the printer, the printer driver translates the image to the printer, via the port connection.  For the computer and the printer’s controller to communicate they need to “speak” the same language. There are two primary languages used in laser printers: Adobe’s Postscript and HP’s Printer Command Language (PCL). Each language describes everything on the page including fonts, graphics, spacing and colors.  When the printer’s controller receives the data, the Raster Image Processor (RIP) will then break down all the information into a raster image or into a series of dots.

Writing

To create the image on the photoreceptor drum, first a corona wire or a charged roller, will give a positive electrostatic charge to the drum. As the drum rotates, the laser “draws” the raster image across the drum by creating a pulse of light for each dot of the image. Each pulse of light is altering the electrical charge of the drum.

Developing

Once the page is created, the toner is coated onto the drum. First, the developer unit moves through the toner. Because the developer unit has a negative charge, it picks up the positively charged toner. The developer then passes through the drum assembly. Because the drum assembly has a stronger negative charge it attracts the toner to make it “stick” the image onto the drum.
After the toner is coated onto the drum the corona wire will give a sheet of paper negative charge to pull the toner off the drum. The drum and the paper are moving at the same speed allowing the paper to pick up the image exactly as it was created on the drum. In color laser printers, the developing process is repeated four times, once for each color (cyan, magenta, yellow, black).

Fusing

With inkjet printers, the liquid printer ink is absorbed into the paper once it hits the paper. But toner is a powdery substance so there is nothing holding it to the paper but the electric charge. To apply the image to the paper, the paper passes through the fuser. With the heat and pressure of the fuser, the toner is “melted” into the fibers of the paper.

Cleaning

To prepare for the next page, soft plastic blades wipe off any excess toner left on the drum. The drum then passes through the discharge lamp to “erase” any electrical charge left on the drum. To begin the process again, the drum is recharged by the corona wire.

Parts of an Laser Printer & How they Work

Photoreceptor Drum and Corona Wire

The core of the laser printer. A metal cylinder, made of photoconductive material, which holds the raster image created by the laser.  A charged wire gives off an electrostatic charge to both the drum and paper.

Fuser and Developer Unit

Heated by internal lamps, paper passes through the two rollers to fuse the toner into the fibers of the paper.  A collection of small, negative charged, magnetic beads that are attached to a rotating metal roller. The developer unit moves the magnetic beads through the toner hopper to pick up toner to be deposited onto the drum.

Toner and Toner Hopper

A powdered ink that is given an electrical charge so it can “stick” onto the drum and paper. Since toner is fused to the printed material, it doesn’t bleed or smudge easily as liquid ink.The toner hopper is where the toner is stored.  A discharge lamp removes any residual charge left on the drum after a page as been printed.

Laser Unit

When the laser is “drawing” the page, instead of moving across the drum it bounces the beam off a movable mirror.  As the mirror moves, a light shines through a series of lenses.

Printer Driver and Controller

A printer driver is software that acts as a translator so that the printer can understand data and instructions from your computer. The driver describes the text, image, etc. to be printed and translates it into the printer language.The controller is the “command station” of the printer. The control circuitry is responsible for decoding information sent from the computer, via the printer driver, to the printer, as well as controlling the various parts of the printer

Buying Guide

Are you going to be printing primary black and white documents or are you going to be printing color graphics? Is the printer for personal home use or for a small office?

Advantages

- Faster than inkjets
- Less maintenance

Disadvantages

- More expensive
- Only higher end models print in color

Price Range

* $200 & Up

Which Laser Printer is Right for Me?

Monochrome Printers

If you are going to use the laser printer for a home office or in a business office, monochrome laser printers offer the best balance between print quality, price and speed.
Personal laser printer prices have dropped down to around $200 making them an alternative to inkjet printers. For almost the same price of some of the higher end inkjet printers, some monochrome laser printers are faster and are less expensive to maintain.
If you are going to need a printer to print primarily text as well as the occasional graphic/picture, you might want to consider buying a monochrome laser printer or an inexpensive inkjet printer.

Color Laser Printers

Small businesses needing to print color brochures, photographs, or othe color graphics should look into buying a color laser printer. Color lasers are some of the most expensive printers, but because of their quality and speed, they are a good solution for offices and small businesses.

Personal Laser Printers

Most personal laser printers are monochrome printers. They work best in printing text and simple graphics. There aren’t many personal color printers because of their high prices. However, with several color lasers being priced for less than $1,000, they do make a possible alternative to inkjets.

Workgroups

Workgroup laser printers have the same features as a personal laser but have added features designed for multiple users. These features could include input/output trays, duplex printing, sorting and stapling. Workgroup printers have faster processors, more memory, and will therefore be able to handle multiple tasks.

Features to Consider

Print Resolution

Print resolution is the maximum number or dots per square inch that can be printed, measured horizontally and vertically. The more dots per inch will give you greater detail such as sharper text and cleaner images.
If printing mostly text look for a laser printer with a resolution of 600×600 dots per inch. If you will be printing more than text consider a printer with a resolution of 1200×1200 dots per inch.

Speed

Print speed is measured by the number of pages the printer can print out in a minute. The cost of any printer will go up depending on its speed. A personal laser printer should be able to print 15-20 pages per minute.
When it comes to print speed, most manufacturers determine their print speeds using the simplest text in draft mode, so in most cases print speeds are almost twice the speed you will actually have. Print speed will ultimately be determined by the page complexity, the connection speed, and the printer’s memory.

Toner Cartridges & Drum

You can find printers with separate toner and drum units or with the toner and drum is one disposable part. Having a separate toner cartridge and drum unit will save you money because you will only have to replace the toner cartridge when it runs out. Having combined units might make replacement easier but you will have to purchase the whole unit when one goes out.

Connectivity

Before you buy a printer, check what kind of connections your computer supports. Most printers do not come with a printer cable that connects the printer to the computer so you will need to include this cost when budgeting for a new printer.

Memory

Memory will play an important part in the print speed of your printer. The more memory you have the faster your printer will be.  Documents that are in queue (waiting to be printed) are sent to the printer’s memory. If you are printing emails, word documents and the occasional picture, memory is not and important function. Everyday printing usually doesn’t take as much memory. Look for a printer with more built in memory if you are planning to print large text documents and color graphics.  If your printing demands change, there are printers that you can upgrade with more memory.

Network Ready

If the printer is going to be used by multiple users, check to make sure the printer will be network ready. Many personal printers are not designed to be set up on a network.

Cheap Printer Ink Cartridges and Toners

I find it best to keep a spare printer ink cartridge in my cupboard in case I need to print something out really quickly. To help make this job faster and less of a hassle you can use a printer. If your document is strictly text, you can select to use only black ink to save you money.  You can find cheap printer ink cartridges online, saving you money and time.

Since these printer toners are for use only with black ink type of documents, you should see about using another printer or copier for your color document printing. To select the type of printer toner that will give you the type of quality that is needed you will need to see what your printer model details are.

The reason is that with so many makes of printers around the various cartridge and toner manufacturers have created an array of toners that you can use. There are a variety of different toners and different prices of printer toners that will work with your printer. Others are made specifically for a certain type of printer. Therefore you will need to know what your printer type and model information is.

This information can help you to narrow the vast array of printer toner cartridges that you can find. Check all your options before purchasing a printer toner. The internet offers a vast amount of information about printer ink cartridges and printer toner cartridges. Check the various printer toner types by looking at the types that many other people like to use. You can also see what the market price is for these toner cartridges.

Additionally you can use product reviews to find out what the experts in the field have to say about the performance and efficiency of the many printer toners that you can buy. Some times you will find a printer toner that is considered to very excellent by these experts, while you note the name down you should remember that you have yet to see what the price is.

This review is merely a guide to help you discover the various types of printer toner cartridges available. After you've determined which printer ink cartridge you like the most, plan ahead and purchase a few extra as a spare. As you can use these toner printers for your high quality documents you should buy only the best possible printer toner that you can afford. Save money by setting your printer to draft print and setting it back to normal for your final print jobs.

Dell 3100cn A Versatile Dynamo In The Office

The Dell Laser Printer 3100cn has a reasonable price, strong performance, and good image quality. It is a network printer that comes with a 250 sheet paper drawer as standard equipment, making it even more of a value. The Dell 3100cn toner is for a flexible printer with many of connectivity options and support for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. This printer comes with a standard 64MB of RAM that can support a small office with about 10 people.

Dell 3100cn toner cartridges are rated for 4000 pages. Replacement cartridges have a price that is very good when you look at the output that it can provide. Those prices should make the 3100cn economical to run. You can stretch costs further by buying the cartridges in packs of four from Dell’s Web site. They are also very easy to replace.

This printer has a large 400 sheet paper tray and four 4,000-page toner drums. You can purchase an extra 500 sheet paper tray which will increase the paper capacity. You can also add a “duplexer” that allows for two sided printing; with this unit, the driver software lets you shrink several documents to fit onto one sheet of paper.

The Dell 3100cn compatible toner only has three front mounted buttons below the LCD screen; they are the menu, cancel, and select buttons. The select button is surrounded by four way arrow keys. This makes adjustments into a menu choosing method, and some of the functions and adjustments require a few steps rather than on push of a button. This can be daunting for some, but it really is easy to learn.

The Dell 3100cn has a weight of around 72 pounds which is not a light weight, but with the high quality output, and the fast grayscale speeds the weight of the machine is just a number of little consequence. This color laser printer does a high quality printing job; the color graphics are exceptional, it has photographic detail that you might expect from an inkjet printer.. The black text printing, which is most commonly used in office settings, is superior. The Dell 3100cn has a grayscale text speed of 22ppm which proves that this Dell is well suited to a heavy text printing environment, like a small office setting.

The three front mounted buttons below the LCD screen: menu and cancel buttons and a select button surrounded with four-way arrow keys turn any adjustment you need to make into an easy to control work panel. Some of the commands and settings may take more than one step, but still for all the functions that it gives you this still makes the Dell 3100cn a good value.

If you are looking for a quality printer for a small business the Dell 3100cn will meet all of your needs. The printing quality is excellent, and the extra features make it a dynamo in the office. The toner carousel which takes either black and white or color Dell 3100cn Toner cartridges makes it is to replace the old cartridges, and also makes the printing tasks more cost effective. To learn more visit http://www.qtoner.us/.

The Dell 1110 Printer: Monochrome and Marvelous

There are a lot of printers out there which cost an exorbitant amount of money. Some of them are as expensive as desktop computers! Needless to say, not everyone can afford that, which is why so many folks prefer to use printers like the Dell 1110, which is a monochromatic printer. In addition to having its own cartridges, containing Dell 1110 Toner, there are many other attributes which seem to speak well for this printer as well. Many people prefer Dell printers in general, whether they use the manufacturers computers or not. This may be because a lot of them are actually put on the market by Lexmark, which is a forerunner in the printer industry.

This printer is thought to be entry level in addition to being monochromatic. That basically just means that it prints out documents solely in black and white. Due to that fact, it is more affordable than a lot of other printers.

This model is also quite small, so it will not take up a lot of excess space. Many people prefer this about it. Naturally, its size makes it an ideal piece of office equipment for home and public offices which do not have a lot of space to spare. Its weight is proportional to its height. This makes it easy to move around.

Printing of documents requires you to unfold the paper support. It can be found on the printer’s output tray. That is located on top of the machine. After this is done, you will have to open the front cover, which will then create the input tray. There is no paper cover with this printer. Therefore, you either have to remove your paper stack when you are not printing or deal with paper that may get dirty, crumpled, or stained.

That is just one con, though, and it is negated by a whole lot of pros. Not the least of these is the fact that you can put this printer wherever you need to without worrying about space. It is also very easy to use I terms of putting the toner cartridges into the machine. They and the drum are integrated together. Furthermore, a handy handle folds out so that you can easily get the Dell 1110 Toner Cartridges in and out.

On the top most surface of this model, you will find two indicator lights. One of the is the power button while the other is an error indicator. It will alert you to paper jams and all manner of other problems. The two lights blink in different combinations to show different things. For instance, one sequence denotes that the printer is getting information. Another sequence blinks when the printer is actually printing documents. There is also a control button, which will allow you to cancel current printing jobs. The power socket as well as a USB port are both located in the back of the machine.

It is easy to install this printer onto your computer as well. The applications included are very helpful. For instance, one of them will take you to Dell’s supply site when you begin running low on toner. That way, you will never risk running out of ink at an inopportune time.

The fact that you are automatically told when to purchase a new Dell 1110 Toner cartridge is clearly not the only reason why this printer is so widely used. Its small size and quality printing are the main reasons people can rely on this printer in a variety of situations and locations. For more information visit our website at http://www.qtoner.us/.

The Xerox Phaser 8860 Printer Is User Friendly and Reliable

The Phaser 8860 solid ink uses the best technology that makes it reliable, affordable, and friendly for the environment. This printer boasts the use of Xerox technology.  The superior ink and new technology adds to it’s already amazing clarity and efficiency. This is unlike any other printer you have ever had.

Performance and effectiveness are what most people look for in a printer, and with this model, you can be sure you are getting the best value for you dollar. Boasting a print time of five seconds for a color printing page and a resolution of 2400 FinePoint, this is a great printer for businesses and individual uses alike. The printer works with both Mac and Windows formats and is able to store a large amount of paper.

The Phaser 8860 is a printer that has many proficiencies from quick black and whites to detailed color photos. The Wi-Fi offered with this model will help you work with your printer without wire tangle.

The printer has incredible performance and technology. Xerox printers user the highest performance ink with the latest technology. Phaser 8860 solid ink is implemented in this model and is unique compared to other printers because it is cheaper and better for the environment.

The ink that the Phaser 8860 uses is resin based, won’t leave a permanent mark on you or your clothes, and you will get up to 2300 pages per stick. This technology basically copies the concept of crayons and is safe when changing inks. The printer allows you to load as many as five solid ink stinks, which allows you to print more without having to worry about ink levels. It uses solid ink sticks to make an accurate representation of printed material.

The Xerox Phaser 8860 ink is a revolutionary technology that truly makes it unique from the competition. This Phaser ink provides what everyone needs for their printer, whether you are looking for efficiency and clarity, or less mess and maintenance.

-Ben Pate