History Of Computer Printers

In 1953, the first high-speed printer was developed by Remington-Rand for use on the Univac computer. 

In 1938, Chester Carlson invented a dry printing process called electrophotography commonly called a Xerox, the foundation technology for laser printers to come.

The original laser printer called EARS was developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center beginning in 1969 and completed in November, 1971. Xerox Engineer, Gary Starkweather adapted Xerox copier technology adding a laser beam to it to come up with the laser printer. According to Xerox, "The Xerox 9700 Electronic Printing System, the first xerographic laser printer product, was released in 1977. The 9700, a direct descendent from the original PARC "EARS" printer which pioneered in laser scanning optics, character generation electronics, and page-formatting software, was the first product on the market to be enabled by PARC research."

According to IBM, "the very first IBM 3800 was installed in the central accounting office at F. W. Woolworth’s North American data center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1976." The IBM 3800 Printing System was the industry’s first high-speed, laser printer. A laser printer that operated at speeds of more than 100 impressions-per-minute. It was the first printer to combine laser technology and electrophotography according to IBM.

In 1992, Hewlett-Packard released the popular LaserJet 4, the first 600 by 600 dots per inch resolution laser printer.

In 1976, the inkjet printer was invented, but it took until 1988 for the inkjet to become a home consumer item with Hewlett-Parkard's release of the DeskJet inkjet printer, priced at a whopping $1000.

Before You Buy A Color Printer
Do you really need a color printer? If you mostly print black and white documents, the answer is no. But if you need to print documents with graphics or photographs, then a color printer is a good investment. Your next choice will be deciding between an inkjet or a laser printer. While nothing beats the quality and speed of a color laser printer, it's the most expensive option. A color inkjet printer can provide you with good quality at a more reasonable price.

Color Printer Speed
If speed is important to you, cross the lower-end inkjet color printers off your list. Midrange color inkjet printers will print text at 14-17 pages per minute; printing a page of graphics can take several minutes. Compare this with laser color printers, some of which can print color at 26 ppm, and shoot out the first page in less than 10 seconds. How much speed do you need and how much are you willing to pay for it?

Color Printer Quality
Both inkjet and laser color printers can produce professional quality photos. However, if you're looking at an inkjet printer, be aware that all color inkjet printers are not capable of doing this. Generally, the higher end the inkjet printer, the better the quality. There are color inkjet printers that are specially designed to produce top quality photos, and this is the kind you should get if printing photos is important to you.
Color Printer Resolution
Check the resolution to see how many dpi (dots per inch) the color printer is capable of; the higher it is, the higher the image quality. The standard resolution of 600x600 will be more than adequate for most printing, except for photo quality printing. Also check to see if the color printer offers you a range of resolutions, so you can choose different resolutions for different printing jobs, such as draft mode.
Related Color Printer Costs such as cartridges, toner, etc
To print true black, inkjet printers need to have a separate black cartridge. Also look for inkjet color printers that have separate cartridges for each color; it's cheaper to replace just the color that you need than to replace the printer cartridge unit. Replacing a laser printer's toner cartridge is much more expensive than replacing an inkjet cartridge, but printing with a color laser printer costs less per page.
Color Printer Reliability
Some low-end color printers are practically designed to be throwaways. And some brands are more reliable than others. It's more economical to spend $800 on a printer you'll be able to use for 5 years than $200 each year to replace a printer that's worn out. Examine the color printer's construction. Is the cartridge attached to the printhead? Replacing a printhead is much more expensive than replacing a print cartridge.
Test A Color Printer Before You Buy
Never buy a color printer without testing it first in the store. Read the specifications and see how the printer measures up when you run it. See how the color printer prints both a page of text and a page of graphics or a photo; some printers don't do both equally well. If it's a color inkjet printer, pay close attention to the sharpness of the text and images; some inkjet printers do a poor job with sharp lines.