Defining your needs - Printer Specifications

How should your printer be configured?
With all of the options available, it's easy to get confused and purchase capabilities that aren't required for your application. That's a mistake you won't want to make because system costs typically increase as you add options and functionality. Here are some of the choices you'll be faced with when choosing your printer:

• Print speed: this can range from 2-12 inches per second (ips). Throughput, a combination of print speed plus formatting time, is equally important.
• Printhead resolution: commonly from 100 dpi to 300 dpi. � Memory: from 256K to 8Mb or more.
• Special media handling: internal or external rewind, peel and present, media cutters, ribbon savers.
• Font offerings: stored on memory cards, EPROMs or cartridges.
• Communication interfaces: serial, parallel, coax, twinax or other.

When choosing your printer, understand just exactly what you'll need to produce the correct output. You may determine that your application requires everything listed above -- or you may find that your application only requires a 2 ips printer with 256K of memory.

Reprinted with permission from Datamax Corporation - 2000

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