Twenty years ago, if you had a home computer, your printer was most likely a dot-matrix model. Sure, there were inkjet and even laser printers available in those days but their price tags kept them out of most homes. Instead, we had to rely on dot matrix printers which were sputtering, loud, and painstakingly slow dinosaurs gradually printing out monochrome text on reams of perforated paper. It's hard to believe that at one point those devices were the pinnacle of home printing technology.
The printers of yesteryear are especially laughable in light of what we expect out of a printer today. Modern printers need to, at the very least, print our full-color documents in seconds, and render our photographs as high-quality images. When you consider the massive technological leap from a clunky dot matrix to a sleek, touch-screen wireless photo printer, you might wonder where the next decade will take us in terms of printers.
Just like how laser printers were around 20 years ago, but at a cost of over $15,000, high-end printers are currently being tested and developed that are years ahead of the printers in our homes. Just like how laser printers eventually became the standard home printer, some of these new printing marvels might one day emerge as the future of printers.
Inkless Printers and Reusable Paper
The Xerox company, which has often been at the forefront of new technology, is currently developing printing technology that bypasses the need for ink. The system will feature reusable paper which can be printed and erased multiple times.
Inkless printing technology applies different levels of heat to the specially treated paper, allowing the text or image to emerge from the paper without anything ever being printed in the traditional sense. Not only is this just a cool idea, it's also poised to significantly reduce the printing costs as ink is eliminated and paper can be continually recycled.
Other companies are racing to develop their own answer to the inkless printer. Zink, an offshoot of Polaroid, is attempting to incorporate the inkless technology into small, handheld printers that can be easily integrated with mobile phones or cameras.
New 3-D Printers
Although 3-D Printers have been around for a few years, the prospect of a home version makes for a truly exciting future printer. These prohibitively expensive machines are actually capable of "printing" three-dimensional physical objects from your computer based on a 3-D image file. For the most part, these machines have been the exclusive domain of cutting edge design companies and the occasional college. However, a British company, Fab, is on the verge of releasing home 3-D printers that will be priced as low as $1,000. Although these printers may not have as many bells and whistles as their industrial counterparts, the mere fact that affordable 3-D home printing is almost here is truly amazing.
The home 3-D printers even manage to outdo the commercial versions in some areas. While many commercial printers can only process one kind of building material, the home 3-D printer is capable of working in a wide variety of mediums, from silicone and plaster to Play-Doh; they can even work with materials like chocolate and ice cream. The home version can even combine multiple materials into a single object, allowing for more complex designs.
Home 3-D printers promise to open new worlds of opportunity. And if this is what they're capable of today, imagine what the future holds. As 3-D printing technology improves, are we really that far away from a day when we can buy something like an iPod online and "print" it out seconds later?
John Pickering is the owner of EezyTrade.co.uk, an online retailer of new and refilled ink cartridges for Brother, HP, Canon, Epson, Lexmark and Xerox printers. Visit us online today for hp ink cartridges and more and begin saving.
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