All solid font printers use an impact mechanism to print characters on the paper. Dot matrix printers, on the other hand, come in both impact and non-impact varieties. Non-impact printers use sprayed ink, lasers, heat or electrical technology, not physical contact with the paper, to produce their images. Their ability to inexpensively produce text and graphic images with clear, sharp quality is responsible for their great popularity. Quieter and faster than impact printers, PC-oriented laser printers are capable of printing from 4 to 20 pages of output per minute, with some mainframe laser printers capable of printing over 300 pages per minute.
Some laser printers can also produce color output.
The basic technology behind the laser printer is the same as that used in copy machines, with only the mechanism for placing the image on the copying drum being different. Ink jet printers have gained in popularity as an inexpensive substitute for a laser printer, especially in the color printer market. Creating images by spraying tiny drops of ink through one or more thermally or mechanically activated nozzles onto the paper, ink jet printers are able to produce images that are nearly as clean as those produced by laser printers, but at a much lower cost. These inks blend together to form very high quality, full-color images. Because the printers, the wax sheets, and even the special paper are all relatively expensive, thermal transfer printers are not generally used for large volume print jobs.