CompTIA A+® Certification All-In-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

5.2. Understanding Types of Printers

NOTE

The three different types of printers in today's busy world of computing are laser, inkjet, and dot matrix. You need to be familiar with each type for the A+ exam.

5.2.1. Laser printers

The laser printer — also known as a page printer because it prints one page at a time — is the most popular type of printer because it is fast and reliable, and offers the best-quality printout of the three types of printers.

A laser printer gets its name because it uses a laser beam in the printing process. A laser printer, shown in Figure 5-1, is also the most expensive type of printer because of its high-cost components such as the laser.

Figure 5.1. Looking at a laser printer.

Many parts work together to make the laser printer and its printing process run smoothly:

• Paper feeder mechanism: Laser printers use a set of pickup rollers to grab the paper from the paper tray and feed it into the printer.

• Paper transport path: Rollers are used throughout the print process so that the paper can continue to move through the printer.

  • Registration rollers move the paper.

  • Fuser rollers melt the toner onto the paper.

  • Exit rollers guide the paper out of the printer.

• Toner cartridge: The toner cartridge (shown in Figure 5-2) contains the replaceable components of the printing process. It contains three core components:

  • The toner is electrically charged material made of ...