Advantages and Disadvantages of Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers work by propelling tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper. They are the most popular type of printers because they combine low cost with superior quality of output. They are user friendly, inexpensive and reasonably fast as well. Major players in the inkjet printer sales world wide are HP, Canon, Epson and Lexmark.



Inkjet Head Design

nullInkjet printer heads come in two forms of design. One is the fixed-head design and other disposable-head design. In the fixed head there is a built in head whereas in the disposable design head is a part of the disposable ink cartridge. Under the fixed head the head need not be replaced every time the ink runs out but incase the head is damaged the entire printer becomes useless. For disposable head every time the ink finishes the entire inkjet cartridge along with the print head is replaced increasing the running costs. However damaged print head is only a trivial problem: all you need to do is change the cartridge.


An intermediate method does exist: a disposable ink tank connected to a disposable head, which is replaced infrequently (perhaps every tenth ink tank or so).

Advantages and Drawbacks:

Inkjet printers when compared to dot matrix and daisywheel printers are absolutely noiseless and yield excellent print quality for both text and picture and also do not require any warm-up time. However their drawbacks are expensive ink cartridges and highly prone to clogging print heads. Though consumers can overcome cost disadvantage by using compatible/generic cartridges, remanufactured cartridges or easy-to-use refill kits.

So from the various inkjet printer brands available in the market select the one which is reasonably priced with respect to both the fixed cost and running cost and offers useful features as well. It is recommended not to buy the cheapest inkjet printer model from the range. Going for the second cheapest often results in sensible improvements. Also don't buy the latest model either. Its cartridges will remain expensive for a long time