X-bit labs

Personal Laser Printers Roundup: Monochrome Printing (page 32)

Category: Other

by Vasily Melnik

[ 01/19/2006 | 06:23 PM ]

Printing Quality

I printed the test image at 300dpi and 600dpi. The first scan shows that the 300dpi mode brings about a considerable loss of detail. Moreover, slanting lines look jagged at this resolution.

300dpi

600dpi

The second scan is more detailed, but can’t match the quality of the Oki printer. You can see the familiar artifact shaped like the number “6” on both the printouts (it is more like a smudge on the first scan, though). Note also the waviness of horizontal borders at both resolutions.

The halftone image looks rude at 300dpi; small details are not discernable. Borders between contrasting objects are not sharp; light areas are filled rather too densely.

The 600dpi resolution improves the picture, yet the drawbacks are the same: the rude raster pattern leads to loss of detail, and light areas are filled just too densely. And here’s the same image printed in the toner-saving mode:

The toner fill density is lower and the image is lighter. Otherwise, there are no changes.