The most common types of printers you find on the market are inkjet printers and laser printers. Inkjet printers are commonly sold for home use, while laser printers are more frequently sold to businesses, but both can be used in either environment. Specialized photo printers are also available, as are 3-D printers that create objects from extruded plastic. All-in-one printers can also make photocopies, send and receive faxes, and scan documents.
One of the most common printer types on the market is the inkjet printer. An inkjet printer shoots tiny streams, or jets, of ink droplets onto paper from a device called a print head that moves across the page as the paper advances through the printer.
Some inkjet printers use a heating element to heat the ink and send it toward the paper, while others use other systems to apply force or electrical charge to the ink and move it toward the page. Inkjet printers usually use replaceable ink cartridges, which are plastic containers of ink that can be removed and discarded or recycled when they're used up. The ink cartridges dry out or become clogged if they're not used with some regularity.
Inkjet printers are typically inexpensive to buy, leading to their popularity for home use. The downside is that inkjet ink cartridges are relatively expensive, meaning that laser printers may be more cost efficient for offices or home users that print frequently.
A common alternative to an inkjet printer is a laser printer, which uses a laser to transfer an electrical charge to a metal device called a drum inside the printer. The drum then rolls through particles of a material called toner, which is attracted to the electrical charge. The toner transfers to the paper and is baked onto it with a heating device called a fuser.
Historically, laser printers were black ink printers only, but color laser printers have become increasingly common in recent years. They're usually speedier than inkjet printers, making them a popular choice in offices and other environments that require a lot of printing or printing of long documents. They're more expensive to buy than inkjet printers, but per-page toner costs are lower than the equivalent ink costs for inkjet printers.
Like inkjet ink, toner is sold in replaceable cartridges.
Collecting printed photos isn't as common as it once was, thanks to social media and other tools for sharing photos online. However, home photo printers are available for people who want to print photos and don't want to go to a photo store or the local pharmacy to print them.
Some photo printers are specialized inkjet printers that have separate cartridges for dyes and pigments that are designed to make photos vivid. These are usually more expensive than conventional inkjet printers, but some users find the price difference worth it for the increased quality.
Others are dye sublimation printers that superheat dye and project it onto the page, giving an intense, near-lab-quality photo. Some of these printers are designed to take paper in traditional photo sizes rather than standard copy paper sizes.
For best results when printing photos, use high-quality, glossy photo paper rather than basic copy paper.
Another type of printer available is the 3D printer.
3D printers use spools of a plastic material and extrude it to form shapes designed with computer-assisted design software. They're used by artists and hobbyists to create interesting and colorful shapes and by businesses to produce prototypes.
3D printers aren't suitable replacements for traditional 2D printers, and they're not designed to print documents or photos.
Steven Melendez is an independent journalist with a background in technology and business. He has written for a variety of business publications including Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Innovation Leader and Business BVI. He was awarded the Knight Foundation scholarship to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.