Printer type clusters
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clusters
Actually a printing dialog needs to be custom made for each printer on the market. That is too much effort for this project. Instead we will design dialogs for seven printer clusters, each of which functions as a archetype/prototype for loads of similar printers in the market. The interaction designer of the manufacturers can use these best-practice examples to base their designs on.
Note that we do not intent to cover 100% of the printer market. The feature sets of each cluster is also chosen more for UI concept development and educational purposes than for being ‘always right.’ Do not take the clusters too literal…
General inkjet printers
for personal use, sharing with a few persons and casual photo printing
- high resolution: 4800 dpi optimized
- low volume printing
- low printing speed: 1–10 ppm
- low–medium paper capacity: 100–250 sheet
- individual use or small workgroups
example: HP Deskjet 3747
Photo printers
for individual use or small workgroup
- (very) high resolution: 4800 dpi and higher optimised
- low volume printing
- low printing speed: 1–10 ppm
- low paper capacity circa 120 sheet
- individual use or small workgroups
example: Epson Stylus Photo R800
Personal laser printers
for office or small workgroups
- medium resolution: 600 or 1200 dpi
- medium volume printing: 300–20.000 pages per month
- medium printing speed: 7–25 ppm
- medium paper capacity: 200–250 sheet
- for personal or small group use
- Manual or Duplex printing (printing on both sides of paper)
example: Brother HL-5250DN
Workgroup laser printers
- typical resolution 600 or 1200 dpi
- high volume printing: 25.000–100.000 pages per month
- high printing speed: 20–55 ppm
- medium–high paper capacity: 250–500 sheet
- for workgroups use
- Duplex printing
example: HP LaserJet 5200
High volume printers
for departments
- low–medium resolution: mainly 600 dpi
- very high volume printing 75.000–300.000 pages per month
- very high printing speed: 50–105 ppm
- (very) high paper capacity (multiple trays, 500+)
- for large workgroups use
- security functions
- Duplex printing
example: Canon imageRUNNER 8070
Wide format printers
for architects, designers of all kind and creative types
- inkjet or pen (plotter)or laser
- ability to handle big format (from A3 to A0)
- medium resolution: mainly 1200
- medium volume printing
- very low printing speeds
- very low paper capacity
- for workgroups use
example: Epson Stylus Pro 9800
Impact printers
used with multi-part forms and in industrial environments
- impact dot matrix
- very low resolution: 240–360 dpi
- high volume printing, continuos printing functionality
- low printing speed: 104 to 1440 cps, similar to 1–10 ppm
- high paper capacity (roll, multi part form, labels, barcode)
- for individual and workgroup use
example: Epson FX-2190N Impact Printer
not included
The follow printers groups do not form a the cluster because are small groups of specialised printers:
mobile printers
example: HP Deskjet 460 Mobile
This group is too small, and they are too similar to normal inkjet printers, for these reasons we don't include them in the project.
compact printers
example: HP Photosmart A516 Compact
We don't include these printers in the project because their primary focus is to print without the PC.
label printers
example: Brother QL-500
We don't include these printers because are too limited in purpose and only specialised software can usefully print with them.
multifunction & all-in-one
Multifunction laser printers for workgroups, example: Fuji Xerox ApeosPort-II 4000
all-in-one inkjet printers with photo capabilities, example: Lexmark X9350
These are not separate clusters because they are actually simply printers as far as we are concerned, and automatically included in inkjet or laser groups.
