What Is a Printer?

A printer is a computer peripheral device that can convert electronic data into a hard copy, usually in the form of text and graphics on paper or as an object in 3D printers. A typical printer can accept input commands sent from computers, other devices or mobile phones. It also has a variety of control buttons for turning it on or off, loading and ejecting paper, and accessing cartridges.

The first electronic printers were based on mechanisms from electric typewriters and teletype machines, which produced documents with multiple pages of text. Later, dot matrix printers used pins to print characters on an ink ribbon, with each character consisting of several dots. The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984, and the subsequent development of PostScript in the Apple LaserWriter, revolutionized printing, allowing people to create documents that previously could only be produced with expensive commercial typesetters. By the 1990s, simple printing tasks such as fliers and brochures were commonly created on personal computers and then laser printed, resulting in a sharp decline in demand for dot matrix and daisy wheel systems.

Toner-based printers use a photoreceptor to receive image data from the computer. A laser then draws an electrostatic image on the drum, which attracts toner particles. The toner is then transferred to paper, and heat fixes it in place. Liquid inkjet printers propel tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper, which produces high-quality images and text. Solid ink printers use melted or dissolved dye to produce color prints on non-porous media such as transparencies. In addition, thermal printers use heat to transfer solid ink or wax onto paper.