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10. B. Improved overall system performance is the primary benefit to adding more RAM to a laptop that uses shared memory.

CHAPTER 22

Printers

In this chapter, you will learn how to

Describe current printer technologies

Explain the laser printing process

Install a printer on a Windows PC

Recognize and fix basic printer problems

Despite all of the talk about the “paperless office,” printers continue to be a vital part of the typical office. In many cases, PCs are used exclusively for the purpose of producing paper documents. Many people simply prefer dealing with a hard copy. Programmers cater to this preference by using metaphors such as page, workbook, and binder in their applications. The CompTIA A+ certification strongly stresses the area of printing and expects a high degree of technical knowledge of the function, components, maintenance, and repair of all types of printers.

Essentials

Printer Technologies

No other piece of your computer system is available in a wider range of styles, configurations, and feature sets than a printer, or at such a wide price variation. What a printer can and can’t do is largely determined by the type of printer technology it uses—that is, how it gets the image onto the paper. Modern printers can be categorized into several broad types: impact, inkjet, dye-sublimation, thermal, laser, and solid ink.

Impact Printers

Printers that create an image on paper by physically striking an ink ribbon against the paper’s surface are known as impact printers. Even though daisy-wheel printers (essentially an electric typewriter attached to the PC instead of directly to a keyboard) have largely disappeared, their cousins, dot-matrix printers, still soldier on in many offices. Although dot-matrix printers don’t deliver what most home users want—high-quality and flexibility at a low cost—they’re still widely found in businesses for two reasons: dot-matrix printers have a large installed base, and they can be used for multipart forms because they actually strike the paper. Impact printers tend to be relatively slow and noisy, but when speed, flexibility, and print quality are not critical, they provide acceptable results. PCs used for printing multipart forms, such as point of sale (POS) machines that need to print receipts in duplicate, triplicate, or more, represent the major market for new impact printers, although many older dot-matrix printers remain in use.

Dot-matrix printers use a grid, or matrix, of tiny pins, also known as printwires, to strike an inked printer ribbon and produce images on paper (Figure 22-1). The case that holds the printwires is called a printhead. Using either 9 or 24 pins, dot-matrix printers treat each page as a picture broken up into a dot-based raster image. The 9-pin dot-matrix printers are generically called draft quality, while the 24-pin printers are known as letter quality or near-letter quality (NLQ). The BIOS for the printer (either built into the printer or a printer driver) interprets the raster image in the same way a monitor does, “painting” the image as individual dots. Naturally, the more pins, the higher the resolution. Figure 22-2 illustrates the components common to dot-matrix printers. Many dot-matrix printers use continuous-feed paper with holes on its sides that are engaged by metal sprockets to pull the paper through—this is known as tractor-feed paper because the sprockets are reminiscent of the wheels on a tractor.

Figure 22-1 An Epson FX-880+ dot-matrix printer (photo courtesy of Epson America, Inc.)

Figure 22-2 Inside a dot-matrix printer

Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers (also called ink-dispersion printers) like the one in Figure 22-3, are relatively simple devices consisting of a printhead mechanism, support electronics, a transfer mechanism to move the printhead back and forth, and a paper feed component to drag, move, and eject paper (Figure 22-4). They work by ejecting ink through tiny tubes. Most inkjet printers use heat to move the ink, while a few