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Heavy-duty dot matrix printers can be ten times that. Budget dot matrix printers for small office or home use start at around 5,000 pages per month. The duty cycle gives you a good idea of a printer’s productivity. This can be as low as 80 on entry-level machines and several thousand on large models.
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Dot matrix printers are rated by characters per second (cps). Speed can be an important factor in a busy business environment. You’ll find considerably more choices in 9-pin models. Perhaps not surprisingly, 9-pin dot matrix printers are less expensive, and they’re perfectly adequate in many office situations. There doesn’t seem to be a great deal of difference, but when you see the printed samples, there’s an obvious improvement in quality.Īlthough both kinds may offer options for character definition (usually by varying the horizontal spacing, defined as pitch), the 24-pin models are capable of printing finer detail and thus sharper images. A similar 24-pin printer has a resolution of 360 x 180. A 9-pin printer might be capable of 240 x 216 dots per inch, for example. Comparison with other types of printers doesn’t give a realistic view of print quality. Manufacturers often quote dots per inch (dpi), which can be confusing. Over their many years of development, print heads have had anywhere from 7 to 36 pins, though now there are just two choices: 9 pins or 24 pins, the latter in two slightly offset rows of 12. As the print head moves horizontally, it creates character shapes by pushing different combinations of pins forward into the ink ribbon and into contact with the paper. The print head of a dot matrix printer is composed of a number of pins (or wires), in a vertical row.
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Don’t expect to get high-resolution color images out of one. Dot matrix printers can be an efficient and cost-effective solution, but they’re quite function specific.