Output Devices : Laser Printers

Laser printers are called page printers because they print a whole page at a time. A laser beam is used to draw the image to be printed onto a light sensitive drum. After the image has been drawn on the drum a fine powder ink called toner is put onto it. The toner only sticks where the laser has drawn the image. The paper then passes over the drum and the toner is transferred onto the paper.

Laser printers produce very high quality output, are very quiet and very fast. Typical home laser printers can print 16 pages per minute (ppm). Some industrial versions print over 100ppm and can print on both sides of a piece of paper at the same time. The main disadvantage of this type of printer is the high purchase cost. Small laser printers cost from £80 to buy and are more usually about £600. Colour laser printers cost £500+. Running costs are higher than dot matrix printers but lower than most ink jet printers.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004