Everything You Need to Know About Choosing HP Large Format Printers
When you need to print something wider than an 8 1/2 by 11-inch sheet, large format or wide-format printers are a natural choice. These printers are used for printing wide pieces of 24 to 48-inch graphic art, blueprints, floor plans, and architectural designs. HP large format printers are available in a range of options and with different features.
What printing technology does the HP large format printers use?- Thermal: A specialized dye is embedded into the paper. The dye experiences a chemical reaction in the presence of heat, changing color as the heat source moves across it.
- Inkjet: Pigmented or dyed inks are sprayed through small heads onto the paper as rollers move it at a specific speed across the reach of the heads.
- Laser jet: This technology uses powdered toner that makes an electrostatic bond with the paper.
- Dot matrix: Separate dots are made on the matrix at a high level of resolution in order to create an image.
- Dye sublimation: Inks are sprayed into the specialized print media in order to produce tonal images or graphics of photographic quality.
The connectivity options include:
- EIO: This allows for connection with a local area network.
- Ethernet: The systems have an Ethernet port for RJ-45 cables.
- Parallel: They accept parallel connections with other media, making use of IEEE 1284 cables.
- USB: These products may accept USB 1.0, 1.1, or 2.0 connections.
- Wireless: They may connect to other devices via Bluetooth or other wireless technologies.
A large-format printing system offers two types of output options. The first type is black and white, which can be achieved with the thermal, ink, or laser toner products. The second type is color output. The color output large-format printing units use color cartridges of cyan, magenta, and yellow ink or toner. They typically also have a black ink or toner cartridge that is used to produce the black sections or text of an image.
What level of resolution does HP large-format printers have?Resolution refers to how many dots per inch (dpi) are created with the ink, toner, or thermal matrix. The available levels of resolution for the large-format media printing systems include:
- 600 by 600 dpi
- 1,200 by 600 dpi
- 1,200 by 1,200 dpi
- 1,200 by 2,400 dpi
- 4,800 by 2,400 dpi
- Light emitting diode indicators: The large-format printers use light emitting diode indicators to display the system status. The statuses include ready, printing, error, and not online.
- Power options: These devices can use either 120 or 240 volts of electricity.
- Removable trays: The trays that hold the paper or rolls can be removed or switched out for using different sizes of paper.