Although laser printing technology today offers printer rates of speed in is higher than of 50 pages each and every minute on general office printers, inkjet printers are now commonplace in small business and home user environments. With improvements in inkjet print rates of speed, the periods are gone when laser was automatically preferred over inkjet because of speed considerations. But think about print quality? What quality indicators should we look for when deciding between products from competing manufacturers? Or indeed between products offered in vary type of price ranges from the same manufacturers?
The ability to assess professional print quality is something which can be learned from experience, but for most people, the buying of a new printer is not a regular event. Discussing with friends and fellow workers is an obvious way to go, but even industrial inkjet printer. then it is hard to get a full picture of the choices available nowadays.
Here we list in brief, some considerations in terms of print style and expectations, for regular office document stage productions. Nearer evaluation of documents which look adequate in principle, reveal distinct differences in print quality in specific areas. These are the areas to pay attention to when looking at those all-important test sheets.
Black-Only Printing: Office Documents
Text clarity on all print media is the issue first and last with Black-Only printing. Individual printer products differ widely in their control of so called printer splatter. This occurs with the spreading of minuscule tiny droplets of printer, which vary in size between different printer models, from the defined text edges. Such torn edges are caused primarily, either by positioning issues with the print head, by use of inappropriate print settings for the media used or the media itself.
However, even under expert control, some printers will always offer much-reduced printer splatter than others. In particular, the differences in quality can be biggest between machines with a fixed print head within the machine compared with machines (far more common) with the print head within the throw away cartridge. Here users are up against either cost issues. For example where a damaged print head which is the main machine will almost inevitably mean a replacement of the printer itself; but on the other hand the throw away head route will increase the cost of consumables.
Colour Printing: Office Documents
As well as variations in printer droplet size, the use of colour inks under-laying the black is a contributing factor to the sharpness of text and lines in colour printers, but a downside can be the presence of colour dots outside the defined edges, which are an element of poor cartridge positioning. Good performers here are the Cannon MP-450 and the Lexmark P4350.
Colour chastity and accuracy need to be carefully considered, if the print output is to engage a buying audience, or when technical requirements (eg in video design projects) mean that accurate colour is paramount. Inkjet printers have problems here more than laser printers mainly because of the program between liquid printer and paper. Much more attention is needed for the type of media used, for example when sprayed media might be considerably better plain media,
Printed Page Size
Surprise and often infuriating area of using inkjet printers is the tendency for some models to print a different document size to the size expected. This is not the case with Cannon, Brother and Lexmark, but models from some manufacturers can produce documents 4% larger, or even 8% smaller than anticipated. This is really something to be aware of when researching the performance areas of any prospective purchase.