When it comes to printers, there are a few specific features that most consumers look at before making a purchase.  Of course reliability and durability are important, but it is often hard to gage that without actually using the device.  People want to know how efficiently a particular printer produces text documents, graphics or photos, depending on the needs of the user, and the price and quantity of ink or HP C9732A toner.  If shopping for a large office where speed is essential, a unit’s output rate might be the only deciding factor.  However, for home offices, dorm rooms, photo enthusiasts or graphic designers, quality is far more important.

How is quality measured for a printer?  Obviously once the printing process has begun, human eyes can see how sharp and clear the printed text or image is.  But how do you measure the quality when the machine is still in the box, waiting on the shelf for you to buy it?  You find the specifications of it and you look at the DPI, or dots per inch.  The tiny drops of HP 99 ink or toner that are ejected onto the page measure the quality by forming lines of dots over a span of one inch.

Clearly, the higher the DPI, the better the quality of prints will be.  Dot matrix printers produce results by using small rods that strike the ribbon.  This process is a bit slower and will not reach a very impressive resolution.  Laser printers release Canon 0453B003AA toner through a controlled electrostatic charge, which will provide higher quality.  A relatively standard resolution with normal-capacity printers is 600 dpi.  This means there are 600 dots across by 600 dots down, which comes to 360,000 dots of Brother TN570 toner in a single inch of paper.  That number seems unbelievable, but it is amazing what technology can accomplish these days.

Regardless of how high the resolution of a printer is, it really all depends on the needs of each individual user.  A printer with a 1200×1200 dpi will appeal to photo and graphics printers, where as a unit that bangs out 40 pages a minute will be more suitable for an office.

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