If you have an affordable, reliable printer connected to your home or office computer the chances are it's a laser printer. Able to print documents, photographs and just about any other output required from your PC, laser printers are also adaptable enough to be used as integrated scanners and fax machines.A prototype was designed in 1969 and the first commercial laser printer was available in 1984. The printer had previously been sold on a small scale to businesses for around $17,000. It soon took over from the dot-matrix printer as the computing world's favourite largely thanks to the high quality of print and the comparatively low costs to keep them running. Upon commercial release, laser printers retailed for around $3500 but since then prices have reduced dramatically as companies vie for a larger market share. The $1000 price tag was broken in 1990 but three years later a new - colour - model was available in America for $12,500. Current discount models sell for a sm all fraction of that price yet have vastly increased capabilities. Although the laser printer of the early days doesn't resemble models that currently sell in their millions across the world, the fundamental principle is exactly the same. The technology behind laser printers is hugely similar to the way a photocopier works - the major difference being that a laser printer uses a laser rather than a standard bright light. The foundation process behind the printer - electrophotography - was first discovered in 1938 by Chester Carlson, whose discovery was simply before his time as companies refused to see the benefit. Laser printers are so-called because their use involves a laser beam, which projects the page image onto a drum coated with selenium, which is then transferred onto the page via toner; a simple idea that makes high quality, affordable printing at home a reality.Some 40 years after their invention, laser printers are no longer required to be wired to PCs as they ca n be connectedly wirelessly allowing all computers in the same home or office to send documents for printing regardless of location. Production has also greatly increased - from the original eight pages a minute available in 1984 to 200 monochrome pages or 100 colour pages per minute these days. In the majority of homes and offices throughout the western world this invention has certainly helped transform the way we work and produce home printing products.
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