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Home -> Resources -> Twenty-One Green IT Tips -> 16. Buy Printers Capable of Duplex Printing
16. Buy Printers Capable of Duplex Printing If you accept that two-sided printing is more environmentally-friendly than one-sided printing, you have one more item on your list of environmentally-friendly practices. That was easy, right? Of course, you need to have a printer that supports duplex-printing. Do you have one? If not, then it is time to go shopping. Printers these days fall into one of four categories:
This class of printers was first created for the budget-conscious who needed to both print and fax documents. In the process, the ability to make copies was added and a whole new category was born. The first generation (mid 1990s) of All-In-One printers used inkjet engines. Today, you can find both inkjet and laser All-In-One Printers, although inkjet engines are the more common. Few All-In-One printers support duplexing. Inkjet Printers Like many great things in life, Inkjet printing was invented by accident. In 1977, a researcher at Canon accidentally touched a syringe filled with ink to the tip of a soldering iron. The heat caused the ink to squirt out, and a whole new type of printing was invented. (Tell that to your mom next time she tells you to stop playing with hot surfaces!) Less than half of inkjet printers support duplex, but they are available. Laser Printers Laser printers were created as an offshoot of copier technology. Researchers at Xerox’ Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) created the first laser printer prototype in 1971. What made laser printing successful was the packaging of key components – the print drum, charger, and toner – into a replaceable cartridge. This was done by Canon using a cartridge built for the Canon personal printer. The first generations of laser printers were expensive, but the price has come down dramatically so that today’s personal laser printers only cost a few hundred dollars. Photo Printers The rise of digital photography created the demand for a means to print pictures. Most if not all photo printers use an inkjet print engine. Very few photo printers support duplex printing, but there are a few that you can find if you are persistent. (Source: Wired Magazine, "Canon, Lone Wolf" by Bob Johnstone, Issue 2.10, October 1994. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/canon_pr.html) |
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Duplex All-In-One Printers |
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