Computer printer

A computer printer is a device that produces hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics usually on paper) from data stored in a computer connected to it.

Most general-purpose printers currently sold to individuals and businesses are either laser printers or ink jet printers. Dye-sublimation printers are used by those who work with high-quality color graphics professionally.

A number of other sorts of printers are important for historical reasons, or for special purpose uses:

• Impact printer- All impact printers have certain advantages, such as the ability to make multiple copies using carbon paper[?], and the use of familiar typewriter mechanisms such as ribbons.
• Ballistic wire printer (dot matrix)
• Stored energy printer (dot matrix)
• Teletype
• Lineprinter
• IBM Selectric typewriter

(Which of these describes your typical cash register?)

Some more generic terms used to classify printers:

• Character matrix printer
• Line matrix printer
• dot matrix printer: either a character matrix printer or a line matrix printer (??)
• Page printer

Often the Razor and blades business model ia applied.

See also: PostScript, PCL, color