Printers that produce photo quality output

How do thermal and dye sublimation printers work?

Buying a printer is getting more and more complicated especially when you hear stuff like thermal and dye sublimation. The first thing that you have to understand with ink is that it smudges. When you print something out, you will notice that it will smudge if it gets a little bit moist. Photo printers with thermal and dye sublimation capabilities address this issue. How does thermal or dye sublimation printing work anyway? Thermal or dye sublimation printers use heat to transfer ink from one medium to another. In this case, it transfers the ink from the printer cartridge onto the print out medium which could be paper, plastic, or even cloth. Thermal or dye sublimation printers are ideal for those who intend to transfer their art onto a more complex medium aside from paper.

Thermal and dye sublimation printers versus the standard inkjet

How does the basic inkjet printer compare with the thermal and dye sublimation printers? First of all, both of them use ink. This is their basic similarity. They do not use the toner like the ones used in inkjet printers. Second, the difference in speed is quite large. If your inkjet can print images in ten seconds, your dye sublimation or thermal printer will take almost twice the time. Third, when it comes to image quality, there is not much difference between the two. Fourth, although the image quality is quite the same, when it comes to the longevity of the image on the medium, dye sublimation or thermal will top off the inkjet. Thermal or dye sublimation printers will out do normal ink because there is a thin plastic covering protecting the image on the medium. Imagine your credit card and your calling card. Which image will last longer if you put them out in the open for awhile? You certainly know the answer. This is one of the advantages of thermal or dye sublimation over the ordinary inkjet. If you want to take your digital art into other media then you should certainly consider getting a thermal or dye sublimation type of printer. If you are wondering how much these exquisite printers cost then you should be prepared to spend around a thousand dollars on one. It's no joke. If you are surprised then wait until you hear about how much a printer cartridge will cost. Yes, you're right, about a hundred dollars.