Disadvantages of Impact Printers
- Very Slow Speed and Noisy Operation: The mechanical aspects limit impact printer top speeds to 300-500 characters per second for dot matrix and marginally better at 500-1000cps for LQ printers compared to over 25 pages per minute for contemporary laser printers.
- Only Monochrome Printing Ability: Whether bands, ribbons or matrix pins, impact systems rely on single color inks restricting output only to monochrome text or data representations.
- Inferior Print Quality: While letter quality band printers manage near typewriter quality, fixed pin spacing and ribbon dragging in dot matrix constrains print sharpness below laser printer 600+ dpi resolutions.
- Frequent Consumable Changes Needed: Inked cloth bands last 12-24 months seeing paper volumes before needing replacement. Multi-pass ribbons used up faster with hundreds of meters length ratings typically.
- Requires Custom Printer Interface Support: Most modern operating systems like Microsoft Windows dropped native integration with impact printers requiring special DOS drivers or compatible interfaces like Serial, Parallel ports.
What is an Impact Printer?
Impact printers continue retaining some utility across industries requiring multipart forms, machine-readable output, and longevity in harsh conditions. This article covers the fundamentals of what impact printers have, the types still relevant, and the specifics of working for each.
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