 |
Learn
which technology is best for the job |
|
|
 |
Your ultimate choice of HP printers
starts with understanding your business needs and priorities. To match
these needs with solutions, it's also important to understand the
range of HP printing technology.
To begin, it helps to know the basics of ink and laser technology
to compare the benefits each provides.
Several types of inkjet technology exist. The type HP pioneered and
continues to advance is thermal inkjet technology (TIJ). TIJ-based
printers use an array of tiny nozzles to create millions of ink droplets,
placing them in precise combinations onto the paper or other print
media.
HP has continuously perfected this technology to achieve superior
print technology using up to 31 exceptionally small ink droplets to
print a single dot. This enables an incredible range, or gamut, of
colours to be created for very realistic results.
Traditionally, black ink (K) is provided via a single cartridge and
cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY) are combined to form a tri-colour cartridge.
While a non-business user generally uses this mix of colours at the
same average rate, a business user may print certain colours more frequently,
so single-colour cartridges have become more common for economical
business use.
To further enhance speed, reliability and cost savings, today's business
inkjet technology uses a modular ink delivery system. This system
separates printheads from ink cartridges, allowing printheads to move
more rapidly and ink cartridges to hold more ink. Smart chips in the
printhead monitor ink use and printhead condition for consistently
efficient, quality operation.
Paper type, also known as media, can have a dramatic effect on TIJ
image quality. Based on needs, a variety of media may be chosen —
from general office paper for economical high-volume printing to specially
coated HP papers engineered for
glossy, long-lasting, photo-quality results.
Laser printers apply lasers to a photoconductive drum at specific
printer dot locations. Through this process, the drum is "imaged"
with an electrical charge that attracts exacting combinations of toner
particles to the drum for transfer to the printed page.
Multi-pass colour laser printers use one imaging drum repeatedly for
each CMYK colour. A faster solution, single-pass, or in-line, printers
have four imaging drums allowing the page to be printed in one pass.
The final step of the laser process is fusing. A high temperature
roller and a pressure roller melt then fuse the plastic toner particles
to the paper. Due to the heat involved in this process, there is a
more limited range of media supported for LaserJet printing than inkjet
printing.
Inkjet and laser technologies in HP
printers are both designed for outstanding, efficient, reliable results
for a variety of needs. The technology differences of each lend themselves
to certain printing uses and needs. The table below outlines some
of these. It's important to keep in mind that the latest products
for either technology offer excellent business solutions across the
board. For a more detailed comparison of HP
colour printer categories, visit selecting
the right colour printer.
To learn about a specific product or use our interactive online tool
to help you choose, go to HP
colour printing products.
| HP Inkjet
technology |
HP LaserJet
technology |
| Excellent print quality, reliability, ease of use, and value |
Excellent print quality, reliability, ease of use, and value |
| Great for specialty papers, wide format, and unique media
types |
Great for high-volumes and fast output of lengthy documents |
| Photorealistic image capabilities |
High-yield consumables |
| No fuser or drum replacement costs |
Multiple high-volume paper trays and finishing options |
| Generally smaller in size |
|
|
|
|
