Printer
Speed
Color printers are not known for their speed. Color images require
three or four times as much processing and printing as black and white
images. In addition, color documents are usually much more complex
than the typical one-color page.
Color lasers are typically the fastest type of color printer. Most
have a rated speed of 3 to 4 pages per minute (ppm), although most
documents will take substantially longer to output.
Thermal wax and dye sublimation printers tend to be much slower.
These machines must heat and apply the colors to a page, which increases
both warm-up times and printing times. Only a few thermal wax machines
offer a rated speed of 2 ppm, and most actually operate at well
under 1 ppm. Dye sublimation printers are even slower, with output
speeds generally measured in minutes per page.
Ink-jet and solid ink models typically print at about one page per
minute, although there are versions available that can work at higher
speeds.
Paper Sizes
Virtually all color printers can print on 8.5x11 inch sheets. However,
not all can create a letter-sized document with edge-to-edge printing,
or what is known as a full bleed. To
obtain a full bleed on an 8.5x11 inch sheet, you must typically
print on a larger-sized sheet and then trim it to size. Laser printers
generally cannot handle the larger, "Super A" pages to
produce a full bleed, although most thermal wax and dye sublimation
models offer this feature.
Far fewer printers
are capable of printing on 11x17 inch, ledger-sized sheets. Similarly
for ledger bleeds, you will need a printer capable of printing on
the slightly larger "Super B" paper.
Many models
are also equipped to print on rolls of glossy paper or transparency
film. These are often found with dye sublimation and thermal wax
printers.
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