In general, most people will gravitate
towards an inkjet printer. But, to be sure, let me tell you about the variety of printers you can
choose from.
Laser Printers
Laser printers are like specialized photocopiers. Using the digital image in the computer??™s memory
as a template, a laser printer electrically charges a piece of paper. The printer then allows toner??”a
fine ink-like powder??”to come into contact with the paper. (See Figure 17-1 for a look at a typical
toner cartridge.) The toner sticks to the paper in places where it has an electrostatic charge and,
finally, the toner is permanently melted into the paper by a hot fusing wire.
Laser printers have a lot of advantages. They can print quickly (many personal laser printers
can generate as many as eight or ten pages per minute), and the toner lasts a long time, yielding a
low cost per page. My HP LaserJet 1200 prints about 3000 to 5000 sheets of paper for each $80
toner cartridge. Those advantages add up to a good all-around office printer that handles most
FIGURE 17-1 A toner cartridge, partially inserted in a color laser printer
370 How to Do Everything: Digital Camera
common print jobs pretty well. Personal laser printers can be had for between $100 and $500,
with many excellent models priced under $300.
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