Laser Printer

What Does Laser Printer Mean?

A laser printer is a type of printer that uses a laser and electrical charge model instead of the traditional printing of ink onto paper. Laser printers have increased the neatness and sophistication of print projects, with typical resolutions of 600 dots per inch or higher.

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Techopedia Explains Laser Printer

In a laser print operation, a laser beam fires on a mechanical cylinder known as a photoreceptor. This results in a pattern on the photoreceptor that gets coated with toner. Because of electrical charges, the toner sticks to the paper in patterns that are dictated by the software used to print. Finally, the paper is heated in order to fuse the toner to the paper.

One of the biggest differences with laser printers is that instead of liquid ink, they use a powdered toner element for printing. While laser printers have brought higher capability to printing, they have also introduced new cost elements. Today’s printers are very advanced and often also serve as copiers, fax machines and scanners, but they can also cost quite a lot to maintain and operate on a regular basis.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…