Looking At Printers And Projectors In A Whole New Way

Printers and Projectors have been around from several years now. Right from age old bulky printers to the new age petite ones, right from lim­ited color projectors to full - fledged ones, this industry has come a long way. Gone are the days when we were ruled by complicated installation drivers and wires, now we have progressed to an era of wire­lessly accessing and using them.

A new dimension to printing

Laser printing

Laser printing is without a doubt the most popular forms of printing in today's times, laser printing is all about pace. The method rapidly increases the input on paper at an alarming speed. But there is always a drawback when you opt for laser printing. The quality of the prints would always be sacrificed. The printing processes are rushed in so as to provide the desired output and hence the quality loss. One must not compare laser prints with other printing methods.

Ricoh Aficio 1200S Color Laser Printer

Ricoh Aficio 1200S Color Laser Printer

This laser printer offers some really high productivity. With an output of 22 paper per minute, the Ricoh Aficio 1200S is not just a printer but also a scanner and a photo copy machine. Some of its other prominent features include space-saving footprint, professional printing, color scanning and copying, easy maintenance, smarter productivity, compact reliability, efficient toner and drum system, greener thinking and auto­matic document feeder as standard. The most impressive part about this printer is the 2400 x 600 dpi resolution it offers. This printer is priced at around $180 (approx).

Xerox Phaser 8860DN

Xerox Phaser 8860DN

The Xerox 8860/DN color printer prints an impressive 30 ppm in black and 30 ppm color. It comes with 100 sheet paper capacity for multipur­pose tray and 525 sheets for tray 2, first page is out in 5 seconds. The 750 MHz processor and 256 MB of integrated memory can easily handle complex jobs with the maximum resolution of 2400 dpi. The printer has duplex printing technology feature and comes with the connectivity's like USB. Additionally, it comes with standard memory of 254 MB and extendable memory of 1GB. Monthly duty cycle can go up to 120000 prints Other features include cartridge-free design, cartridge-free solid ink technology, two-sided standard output, high duty cycle means the Phaser 8860 color printer is built to handle high print volumes. This is one power packed printer that is priced just under $3,595

Inkjet printing

The most commonly used form of printing, Inkjet involves printing by using droplets of ink onto paper. These are largely used by most households and small offices. They may not offer the kind of speed laser printers do, but they certainly offer some top notch performance. Top brands like Canon, HP and Epson specialize in these printers. Inkjet printing came into existence much after offset and hence, the emphasis lies more on quality and less on speed.

Canon Pixma i7000

Canon Pixma i7000

Catering towards the business section, this inkjet printer nearly costs $540. This is a bulky printer no doubt but the performance it offers, you would wish you could print personal posters at your workplace. The printer has both USB 2.0 and Ethernet connections. Its other notable feature is automatic duplexer, which can print double-sided A3 documents as well as A4. It offers three media input options: a cassette, a rear tray and a single-sheet manual feed. The rear paper tray can only be chosen as a paper source when printing photos and isn't available using the standard print dialogue.

HP ENVY 110 e-AII-in-One Printer - D41 la

HP ENVY 110 e-AII-in-One Printer - D41 la

This product offers cutting-edge design and premier printing - plus photos and more in a touch. This wireless, Web-connected all-in-one with a large touchscreen fits perfectly almost anywhere in the home or office and offers a variety of mobile printing solutions. With this inkjet printer now photo printing will be a lot more fun! The printer is priced $360 approximately.

3D Printing

3D Printing

Although it was founded as early as the 1986, in India it has become popular only recently. It involves creating 3D objects of any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. Several other processes like cutting, bending, etc. are also involved in achieving the final output. 3D printing is majorly used by engineers, architects and other professionals who require prototypes for their work.

Most major printer manufacturers in India are yet to launch 3D printing equipment in India. But it certainly is the future and people are taking notice of it. You can read the extensive story we have put together on 3D printing.

History of printing

·         200: Woodblock printing

·         1040: Movable type

·         1454: Printing press

·         CA. 1500: Etching

·         1642: Mezzotint

·         1768: Aquatint

·         1796: Lithography

·         1837: Chromatography

·         1843: Rotary press

·         1869: Hectograph

·         1875: Offset printing

·         1886: Hot metal typesetting

·         1890: Mimeograph

·         1907: Screen printing

·         1923: Spirit duplicator

·         1957: Dye-sublimation

·         1960S: Phototypesetting

·         1964: Dot matrix printer

·         1969: Laser printing

·         CA. 1972: Thermal printing

·         1976: Inkjet printing

·         1986: 3D printing

The new dimension to projector

Projectors have been around for decades now. You have studied on them in school, made presentations in college and then gone on to screen pre­sentations when at work. In a layman's terms it is all about receiving a video signal and project­ing the same on a large screen. It is about magnifying the input while giving out the output. Projectors have now become a daily part of people's lives, especially of those who are in the field of education and corporate business.

Imagine, how would you present your million dollar idea to a team of those dressed in black suits and ties without a projector. Seems tricky doesn't it? This is what projectors have brought to our life.

LCD projectors

Making use of LCD light gates, this is one of the simplest systems, the most common and the most affordable projectors in the market. They suit the purpose you bought them for, but one cannot expect great quality from them. The common problem witnessed is the pixelation. Brands have been working on this but LCD projectors do have a drawback.

Epson EB-X02

Epson EB-X02

Epson EB-X02 projector is ideal for first-time users, as this entry-level projector is affordable, easy to use and perfect for viewing videos, pictures and presentations in any home or office environment, without the requirement to learn new technology. Thanks to a high white and color light output of 2,600 lumens, there's no need to dim the light anymore. In addition, the 3LCD technology as well as 3000:1 contrast ratio is able to produce natural and high quality of images. The product costs $575 approx.

LED projectors

They work on the same prin­ciple as that of LED televisions by making us of light emitting diodes as the source. The benefit is that it negates the need for lamp replacements. Apart from that, LED projectors have an upper hand over LCD ones as the projected image quality is much better. Pixelation is reduced thus offering superior performance. But everything comes for a price and LED projectors are more expensive than LCD ones.

LG HS201

LG HS201

This powerful product from the house of LG is one of the most compact projectors available in the market. With a lamp life of 30,000 hours, this makes it one of the best products in this category. It also offers HDMI connectivity, expert color management, quick power on/off and many more such features. All of this is available for a price of $1,080.