A laser printer is a type of computer printer that quickly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper; compare with other type of printers, such as impact printers. The first laser printer was called EARS, was developed by Xerox and was completed in November 1971. Laser printers can mix text and graphics, including different fonts, character sizes, and images. The laser printer uses drum and laser technology: the laser shoots shapes and letters onto the drum, from these images created from the lasers, the drum has knowledge of where to pick up the black powder, other wise known as toner. The light produced by the laser changes the electrical charge of the drum temporarily. Toner is used by laser printers rather than liquid ink. After the drum has picked up the powder it is applied to the paper still in a powder form. The final step of laser printing is the heat and pressure applied to the paper. By heating the paper the powder melts into an ink making permanent impressions on the paper in the form the laser mapped out. Advantages of laser printers over inkjet printers include faster print speed, no smearing, higher resolution,and lower cost . The resolution of laser printers ranges from 300dpi to 1200dpi which allows the resolution to be one of the major advantages of the laser printer. The low cost is only true for monochrome laser printers, those only using black toner, but when purchasing a laser printer with multiple toner ability the cost tends to skyrocket drastically. In terms of graphics and the laser jet printer, the quality is good but the amount of memory required by the printer is very large and without a high memory printer the graphics will lack quality. The speed of laser printer ranges from 4-20 pages per minute, with the average being on the lower end at 6 pages per minute
Laser printers have so many different components that a huge problem becomes the paper jams. The computer within tells you through a series of screens where the paper jam is or if the toner is low. It can also tell you what color is low, paper is low if it's time to do maintenance. You can report a problem via the printers computer.
Most laser printers use high quality slightly heavy paper in order to produce high quality printing. Printers can now hole punch, tri-fold and staple. Printers come with scanners. You can chose to scan to your desktop or an email address