Major advantages of laser printers over dot matrix printers

A few decades ago, laser printers were considered an unnecessary luxury, owing to their large size and higher purchase costs. However, in the recent times, the popularity of yesteryear’s hero, the dot matrix printer, has diminished tremendously in the wake of new and improved compact laser printing technology. The latest laser printers are now being extensively used for business proposes across the globe, and we hardly see any dot matrixes around. There are various factors that make the laser printing technology more efficient and feasible in today’s world.

Print quality

The first and foremost attribute of a good printer is the quality of prints it provides. Courtesy, their high performance electronic components, refined precision optics and usage of microscopic toner powder, the typical laser printers offer a print resolution of about 1200 dots per inch. Most of the latest technology laser printers offer a superior color capacity on a similar high resolution. on the other hand, the dot matrix printer is able to achieve a mere 240 dpi, by repeated printing over the same area, making it a time taking task to achieve a normal picture quality. Due to the fact, that the dot matrix printers make use of ribbons for achieving a colored output, the range is limited to only red and black colors.

Speed of printing

With its latest technology components, the standard laser printer is able to achieve an output of four full sized colored pages, within a minute. The figure further spikes and reaches up to 25 full pages per minute, for black and white text outputs. Comparatively, the dot matrix printers are able to typically provide somewhere between 200 and 600 characters per minute in the draft mode. Some of the higher performance printers can produce up to 1100 character per second. Although the output performance of the dot matrix printer is competent enough, the print received is mostly low quality resolution text.

Noise

The dot matrix printer works on the technology of striking an inked ribbon with a set of metal pins. The speed required for the purpose of printing is often very high and requires the metal pins to move rapidly across the ribbon, producing a loud noise in the process. On the flip side, the laser printers are pretty quiet, due to their sophisticated instrumentation. Unlike the dot matrix printers, the laser printers do not require to be encased in sound deadening covers, for office purposes.

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, the laser technology offers cost effective printing solutions, suitable for both office and residential purposes.