We have all been using printers on our computer for a very long time now. If you have had a computer in the past you most certainly would have had a printer. With everything been sent electronically now like your bank statements, phone and electricity bills people are now having to print there own bills out.
The printer industry has changed a lot, specially since the internet and wireless have become such a big part of the industry. Printers now come in all size and shapes and perform many different and multiple takes. It can be very confusing.
Printer companies do want you to get bang for your buck and they do this by giving you maximum value with the best prince possible, for you and them. Doing so they are able to minimise margins by shipping printers without computer cables because they know a lot of people will use them wirelessly or over their network and not need a cable. The also try and make it so their printers do more than one thing, such as scanning, printing and faxing.
Below I will explain some printer terminology and functionality associated with some of the main products you will see in the store.
Standard Computer Connected Printer
Standard printers are usually the cheap $40 printers you see at the post office or at the front of the store. They really dont do a whole lot more than just print and because they are cheaper older technology they are the type of printer you directly plug into your computer via USB cable and the ones you need to buy cartridges for.
Usually the cartridges cost more than these types of printers and the company will run at a loss on selling you the printer in order to keep you as an ongoing customer who keeps coming in and buying the cartridges.
These types of printers do not last very long and are known as throughway items.
Network Printer
Network printers are bit more fun. They usually come compatible with the idea of connecting it to your computer with a cable, which you will have to buy; but is ideally designed to be used on a network with multiple users.
This type of printer can be connected to the network by Ethernet cable (network cable) or wireless. Once the printer is connected to the network all users can set up their computer to print to it, even though they are not directly connected by USB cable.
This is good because more than one person can use the printer and it doesn’t even have to be in the same room as the users. As long as it can see or connect to the network it can be put in any room where it has power.
