Difference Between Impact Printer and Non-Impact Printer

The difference between impact printer and non-impact printer is that impact printer prints characters or images by hitting a printing hammer or wheel against an ink ribbon and non-impact printer prints characters and images without hitting the papers.

Comparison chart

Impact Printer Definition

These are the first of their kind and are used to print documents at first. Considered as the first type of printers, they work by hitting the needle placed inside them on the ink ribbon. What this action does is that marks are created on the surface and then the ink spreads all over the paper. Another feature that can work against it is that they are noisier than the other types of printers, since the needle keeps moving at a fast speed and the paper moves slowly, thus creating sound. There are many types of impact printers, although their importance has diminished over time. The first type is the dot matrix printer which has around 9 to 24 pins on the surface to make sure things print correctly on the screen. It’s easy to tell that a 24-pin dot printer creates a better image than a nine-pin dot printer. The needles hit the page individually and the entire mechanism moves across the print line from left to right and vice versa. Daisy wheel printers are the other type, it is synonymous with typewriter and gives the same quality as compared. Several petals are present inside and therefore have an alphabet each that hits the page and prints the words. The next type is the line printer which is mainly used in businesses where large numbers of pages are required to be published. Drum printers, chain printers, web printers are also in the same category and have their functions. Several petals are present inside and therefore have an alphabet each that hits the page and prints the words. The next type is the line printer which is mainly used in businesses where large numbers of pages are required to be published. Drum printers, chain printers, web printers are also in the same category and have their functions. Several petals are present inside and therefore have an alphabet each that hits the page and prints the words. The next type is the line printer which is mainly used in businesses where large numbers of pages are required to be published. drum printers, chain printers,

Impactless printer definition

These types of printers are the common type of printers and are defined as those that do not require any needles to work. They use ink jet or laser to complete the task and they do it at high speeds. Although they perform better, the costs of such printers are relatively high and they require ink regularly as it is consumed at faster rates. That brings us to the advantage, which is not noise. These do not have any knock mechanism and therefore people do not care about the noise. The first type, as explained, is the inkjet printer and it works in the same way as a dot matrix printer when it comes to images and texts. While in the latter, the stitches are produced through the needle; here it is provided through ink that is sprayed into the system to bring the nozzle closer to the paper and copy the same characters as in the original file. They can print around 250 words in a second, and that means it’s way better than any impact printer when it comes to bulk printing. Next up are laser printers, which work like a photocopier. They produce text and images on paper by focusing the laser beam on the mirror which bounces the beam off the drum. This drum has an individual coating in which the ink is filled into the box, here small dots are transported with the help of a laser, and the drum is neutralized, giving us the shape. They produce text and images on paper by focusing the laser beam on the mirror which bounces the beam off the drum. This drum has an individual coating in which the ink is filled into the box, here small dots are transported with the help of a laser, and the drum is neutralized, giving us the shape. They produce text and images on paper by focusing the laser beam on the mirror which bounces the beam off the drum. This drum has an individual coating in which the ink is filled into the box, here small dots are transported with the help of a laser, and the drum is neutralized, giving us the shape.

Differences in a nutshell

1. Impact printers work by hitting the needle placed inside them on the ink ribbon. What this action does is that marks are created on the surface and then the ink spreads all over the paper. Non-impact printers work without a needle to produce dots that are created on the surface and then the ink spreads throughout the magazine.
2. A type of printer that produces characters and graphics on a sheet of paper without hitting it is known as a non-impact printer, while the type of printer that produces characters and graphics on a sheet of paper by hitting it is called an impact printer.
3. More ink is required for a non-impact printer to work and thus becomes expensive, while the impact printer needs less ink but uses more needles, although the system is still less expensive.
4. The speed of a non-impact printer is much faster and generally produces around 300 words per second, while there is no fixed time frame for a particular type of impact printer, but it is very slow.
5. The main types of non-impact printers are inkjet printers, photo printers, laser printers, thermal printers, mobile printers, plotters, and large format printers. The main types of impact printers are a dot matrix printer, daisy wheel printers, line printers, drum printers, chain printers, and web printers.

Final Thought

There are many terms that can give the impression that they are very different from each other, impact and non-impact printers are these terms that have been explained in this article and the concepts have been clarified for people who usually do not know much about them.