Importance of PPM
Modern printers are measured by their PPM, according to Wikipedia. Pages per minute (PPM) is a term used to define the speed of a printer. There are various types of printers in the market, categorized as impact and non impact printers. Impact printers are older technology, and these use a print hammer or wheel, and a ribbon to form characters or images. Dot matrix, line printers, band printers and chain printers are all examples of impact printers. Chain and band printers are used as a work horse because of their high PPM. They can print 3000 lines per minute, but make a lot of noise.
Comparatively, the non impact printers are very quiet and print higher quality documents with better detail. These also have a higher PPM because of few moving parts. Two common printers used with computers in office and at home, are the laser and the inkjet printers.
A laser printer is popular because it puts out fast, quiet and colored prints of high quality. Most come with software and a memory, so documents can be stored for later printing. Users can order number of prints, and higher resolution with ease. They also have a ROM chip where all the fonts are stored, and a processor as well. Ink jet printers give a lower resolution as compared to laser. They have a lower PPM and can make the workplace slow.
Companies measure a printer by its PPM. With a lot of print jobs in the pending, all prints coming out same time, the sorting of prints with the many mix ups, a work place can be very un-organized. Work is best managed with a high PPM printer. It allows remote access and can be a central printer catering needs of all personnel in the department or on the floor. A modern 35 PPM printer can print 100 pages in less than 3 minutes. It comes with 384 MB RAM and has a high speed processor. You can print as many as 50,000 documents per month using such a laser jet printer. These can be used with both Windows and Macintosh computers.
A high PPM is important for work environments, where getting the job done on time is a priority. Those who care for quality of prints, and time management opt for non impact printers with a high PPM. Modern printers help organize work places better.