A printer is a device used to make paper copies of documents and on-screen output. It is essential for making practical and productive use of a lot of business software applications. Most personal computers are attached to a printer either directly through a parallel port connection or indirectly on a network. (Only the procedure for installing a printer directly to a computer's parallel port is discussed here.)

If you already have a printer, you should consider upgrading to a newer model only if you find your current printer's performance, such as its speed, print quality, ease of use, or noise level, to be unacceptable. Although printers are always falling in price and improving in performance across the market, you will realize few benefits with newer software by having a late-model printer.

There are two basic types of printers that control most of the market. Laser printers, which are almost always more expensive, use toner cartridges (technology similar to that found in photocopiers) to place text or graphics on the page, and are usually focused toward printing text in black and white at high speeds. Ink-jet printers, which are more popular in the home computer market, use tiny jets to spray ink directly onto the page, are usually slower, and often can print not only in black and white but also in color. Many printers of both types feature easy printing on both sides of the page, copy collation, power saving modes, or special bundled graphics or publishing software.

If you are considering buying a printer, you should consider two particular factors most carefully: speed and print quality. A printer should be able to print both text and graphics quickly, and the speed at which it prints graphics should not be significantly slower than the speed at which it prints text. Regular text should be crisp, smooth, and black, and graphics should have realistic colors or tones and should be minimally grainy. You should try to find a printer within your budget and within any other constraints (such as size) that maximizes speed and print quality. You can narrow your choices further, if necessary, by considering special features. Printers range in cost from $80 to more than $500.

It takes about 30 minutes to install a new printer. No tools are needed.

Click here for a list of links to printer manufacturers.
 

the installation

1. If you are replacing another printer, click on the Start button, move the cursor to Settings, and click on Printers. Click on the older printer, and then click File and then Delete.

2. Make sure that your computer is turned off.

3. If you are replacing another printer, carefully unplug its cable from the computer's parallel port.

4. Attach one end of a parallel cable (possibly included with the printer) to the appropriate port on the printer, and attach the other end to the computer.
   If you have additional parallel port devices that you want to attach to the computer (e.g. a Zip drive), you will have to use multiple lengths of parallel cable to daisychain them together with the printer. The printer usually must be the last device at the end of the chain.

   

5. If you are installing a laser printer, load the toner cartridge into the printer.
   If you are installing an ink-jet printer, load the ink cartridge(s) into the printer.

6. Put paper into the paper tray.

7. Plug in and turn on the printer and any other parallel port devices.

8. Start up the computer. Windows should recognize the new printer and attempt to install the drivers for it. It may prompt you to insert the Windows 9x CD or the CD or floppy disk that came with the printer.

9. Install any software that came bundled with the printer.

10. If possible, have the printer print a self-test page to make sure that the toner or ink cartridge(s) is/are aligned properly.