Printers

The different types of printers

There are several different types of printers, and you can read about two of the most commonly used printers below.

Inkjet Printer

An inkjet printer uses ink to print. This occurs by the printer head having a lot of microscopic holes that drip tiny droplets onto the paper.

The tiny droplets turn into tiny dots on the paper, which together will eventually form a coherent image.

You can get inkjet printers that either use printer cartridges or have a reservoir for ink that needs to be refilled from time to time.

Advantages and disadvantages of an inkjet printer:

Inkjet printers remain a solid and affordable solution, but particularly for office use, they are often not as fast and efficient for plain text as a laser printer.

If you primarily use a printer for colorful images and graphics, an inkjet printer is often considered the best solution.

Laser Printer

The laser printer works slightly in the same way as an inkjet printer, but uses a powder toner instead of ink.

It also creates tiny dots on the paper that together end up forming an image.

Advantages and disadvantages of a laser printer:

Laser printers are typically larger than inkjet printers and often also somewhat more expensive.

You therefore often see them in offices and schools, where many pages are often printed at once and throughout the day.

7 Things to Consider Before Choosing a Printer

Before you buy your first printer, it’s important to consider several things to get the right solution for your needs.

#1 - Type of Printer

The first thing you need to do is decide what type of printer you actually need.

Below you will get a quick summary of some different types of printers, so you can choose the right one for your needs:

• Inkjet Printer. Traditional printer with ink. Suitable for images and graphics where you need detailed colors.
• Laser Printer. Modern printer suitable for mass production of documents. Faster than inkjet printers, but with slightly poorer color.
• Label Printer. Small handheld printer for making small labels for various items, suitable for home or workplace.
• 3D Printer. Advanced printer for hobby or professional use. Can create real objects via plastic/other filament, such as to make your own cutlery, bowls, toys, and much more.

You can see our selection of printers at the top of this page and find the type you need.

#2 - WiFi/Wireless Printer

With a wireless printer, it means it can connect to other devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so you can print without connecting the printer to devices via cable.

A wireless printer is as such not completely wireless since it needs power and thus must be plugged into a power outlet.

Most new printers today are wireless and come with either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi capability and can often also connect to, among others, phones and tablets.

Some printers have their own app, which you can download on your phone or tablet, so you can easily print from there.

#3 - Eco-Friendly Printer

An eco-friendly printer does not need ink cartridges, but instead just needs ink refills from time to time.

In this way, you save the hard plastic ink cartridges and you don't have to change ink so often.

Not only is it plastic-saving, but there are also significant savings to be made economically, as it is cheaper to use refill ink than ink cartridges.

#4 - Multifunction Printer

Most inkjet printers today are multifunctional and also go under the name All-In-One printer.

An All-In-One printer typically has 3 different functions, one of which is obviously to print, and in addition, it can scan and copy.

The scanner is used to scan physical documents onto the computer, so you have them digitally.

You can also copy with the scanner, so you can place a document in the scanner and copy it, so you have multiple copies of the document.

#5 - Pages per Minute

If you need a fast printer, you should look for how many pages per minute the printer can print.

This number is sometimes referred to as SPM, which stands for pages per minute, or as PPM, which stands for pages per minute.

The more pages per minute printers can print, the faster the printer, which can be an advantage if you have many pages to print at once.

However, you should be aware that SPM is often indicated for how long it takes to print in black color since this often refers to printing text.

Prints in color are often more detailed than text because when you use color, it is usually for images, and therefore it takes longer to print a page with an image than it does with a page with text.

#6 - Resolution

The resolution of the printer is crucial for what kind of image quality you get on your prints.

The resolution is measured in DPI, which stands for dots per inch, and translated into Danish is dots per inch.

In some cases, you can also see the term PPI, which stands for pixels per inch, so pixels per inch.

So, it is a measure of how many dots the printer puts on an inch.

The more dots the printer puts per inch, the better quality you get, as there are no large gaps between the dots.

#7 - Max. Paper Size

When you choose your new printer, you should be aware of how large pieces of paper the printer can handle.

Most inkjet printers can only print up to A4 paper, which is often the size most people need to print in.

However, there are also larger printers, often laser printers, that can print in, for example, A3 and even A2 sizes, but they are often expensive and take up quite a bit of space.

Therefore, they are often printers used in offices, as they are too large for most homes.

Printer for Office

If it is a larger company where several printers are needed, it would be a good idea to choose the same printer.

This makes it easier for employees to operate the printers and also easier for any IT supporters to fix the printer if issues arise.

Additionally, it is also easier to buy and refill ink or toner for the printers, as they all use the same type.

This also prevents the risk of filling the printer with the wrong type of ink or toner.

Printer for Home

If you need a printer for home, it is most likely an inkjet printer you will need.

These are relatively small and also cheaper than a laser printer, but work fine for smaller tasks or if it is only used occasionally.

Additionally, you can get them in an All-In-One model, where there is the possibility to print, scan, and copy.

You can also easily print high-quality photos on most newer inkjet printers, as long as you use photo paper.

Frequently Asked Questions about Printers

How does a printer work?

Inkjet printers work by having a kind of print head that has several thousand small holes from which tiny microscopic droplets of ink drip onto the paper. A laser printer works slightly on the same principle where it creates tiny dots, which as a whole form an image, but instead of ink, it uses a powder toner.

How do you load paper into a printer?

Some printers have a paper tray or paper drawer that you need to pull out and place the paper in, while others have a paper holder where you insert the paper vertically.

Which is better, laser or inkjet printer?

If you just want to print a lot of text-based documents as quickly as possible, a laser printer is often the best solution. If, however, you want to print detailed images with many colors, an inkjet printer is often best for this, but both printer types can be used across all printing tasks.