Non-impact Printer

Inkjet printer

The most popular printer for home computer users that prints by spraying streams of quick-drying ink on paper. The ink is stored in disposable ink cartridges, often a separate cartridge is used for each of the major colors. 

Although inkjet printers themselves are often relatively inexpensive, the ink cartridges used in the printers can increase the overall cost of the printer.

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Laser printer

A laser printer is a printer that utilizes laser technology to print images on the paper. Laser printers are often used in corporate, school, and other environments that require print jobs to be completed quickly and in large quantities.

This picture is of the Lexmark C782n laser printer and as can be seen much larger than an ink jet printer found in most homes.

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Thermal printer

A thermal impact printer is a printer that uses heated pins to "burn" images onto heat-sensitive paper. These printers are commonly used in calculators and fax machines; and although they are inexpensive and print relatively fast, they produce low resolution print jobs.

A thermal printer, thermal transfer printer, or thermal wax-transfer printer is a high quality printer invented by Jack Kilby that commonly utilizes a thermal wax ribbon that melts a colored wax onto the paper creating near photo-realistic images.

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LED printer

LED printers were developed by Casio and are printers capable of printing at the same or close to the same quality as most laser printers. LED printers work much like laser printers, but utilize a LED panel that recreates the image on a negatively charged drum. The areas where the light hits the drum become less charged, which attracts toner.

LED printers

The printer then transfers the toner from the drum to the paper and applies intense heat to fuse the toner to the paper.