What exactly is a printer? It is a machine that transfers image data from electronic to material form. In other words, it takes the electronic image that may be on your computer, for example, and prints it onto substantial materials, like paper.

Oftentimes Universal Serial Bus (USB) cables connect these devices to computers, while some can connect without wires to a single device or network of computers. Multifunction printers, or MFPs, and all-in-one, or AIO, versions come with the ability to perform many tasks. For example, some may feature internal faxing capabilities, as well as copiers and scanners. Many units are even capable of connecting directly to other devices such as digital cameras, memory cards and flash drives.

Printers are generally slow devices and the cost of production is quite high. A device that produces thirty pages per minute is considered fast but can be very expensive. As such, they are designed for lower volume jobs with short turnaround.

There are several different kinds of printers available on the market today:

Toner-based printers use technology similar to photocopiers by placing toner in a light-sensitive print and utilizing static electricity to transfer it to the paper. It is then fused to the paper with heat and pressure. This is called the Xerographic principle and the most common devices using it are laser printers.

These toner-based machines offer some of the highest quality printing, making them quite popular for both individual use and businesses. A precision laser fuses the toner with the material, oftentimes paper. Their high quality, however, makes them more expensive than other products on the market and therefore, they are typically more common in offices and businesses.

Another common type of machine is the liquid inkjet model, which uses drops of liquid ink to dye the paper as it transfers the image. Solid ink models, on the other hand, use solid color ink sticks, which are melted. The liquid is then applied to the paper. These are more reasonably priced and the most popular printers for purchase.

Liquid inkjets are more common for home use and, as the name implies, they use liquid ink to produce images. The ink is applied directly to print the image.

There are two kinds of ink-less printers: Thermal and Ultraviolet, or UV. Thermal units are used in conjunction with heat-sensitive paper, and special papers are needed for color printing. Monochrome versions, however, are most commonly used to produce receipts and can be found in cash registers, cash machines and gasoline dispensers. UV machines are still in development, but are intended to use UV light sensitive chemicals to transfer images.