Advantage and Disadvantage of Impact Printer and Non-impact Printers

The advantages of impact printer

• Dot matrix printers are cheap and durable,
• Multiple (carbon) copies may be printed at once,
• Impact printers are well-known for their reliability and for their ability to work in harsh conditions and environments, such as heat, cold, humidity and dust, without breaking down,

 Disadvantages of impact printers

• They are relatively slow,
• They create noise when the pins or typeface strike the ribbon to the paper,
• They do not print transparencies (documents printed on clear plastic film for use with overhead projector,
• Their colour performance is low and print low quality printouts,
• They can only print lower-resolution graphics.

Advantages of non-impact printer

• Non-impact printers offer better print quality, faster printing and the ability to create prints that contain sophisticated graphics, such as photographs,
• They are much quieter than impact printer as their printing heads do not strike the paper,
• Expanding technology (will be easier to find parts, toners, etc.),
• They print on most types of paper but better quality is obtained with better paper,
• Transparencies are usually supported,
• The printer cartridges and drums are recyclable.

 Disadvantages of non-impact printers

• More expensive,
• More complicated maintenance,
• A laser printer emits dust particles that can cause respiratory diseases.