Printer Manuals & Owner Guides

Printing technologies

Laser / LED (electrophotographic)

Fuses toner onto paper with heat. Fast and economical for text-heavy office printing; needs warm-up after sleep.

Inkjet

Sprays ink through microscopic nozzles. Excellent color and photos; refillable-tank models have low running costs. Needs regular use to prevent clogs.

Direct thermal

Heats coated paper to form the image; no ink or ribbon. Common for receipts and shipping labels, but prints fade with heat and light.

Thermal transfer

Melts ink from a ribbon onto labels for durable barcodes and asset tags.

Impact (dot matrix)

Strikes an inked ribbon; prints multipart forms.

Reading printer energy data

Laser printers, copiers and high-volume devices are rated by typical electricity consumption (TEC) in kWh per week, measured over a simulated office week of jobs and sleep periods. Inkjet, thermal and most small devices — and scanners — are rated by their sleep and off-mode power instead. Multiply weekly TEC by 52 for an annual estimate.

Saving paper, toner and energy

• Make two-sided printing the default if your printer supports automatic duplex.
• Keep the factory sleep delay short; do not disable sleep.
• Print in grayscale and draft mode for internal documents.
• Scan to email or folders instead of making copies you only need digitally.

Printer FAQ