Touch-Screens: The Latest Must-Have Printing Technology?

The basic function of home and business printers hasn’t changed since they were first invented way back in 1976; you send your document through and the printer produces a perfect (sometimes...) physical copy of said document.

That doesn’t mean that home and business printers haven’t evolved, however. We’ve extolled the virtues of wi-fi printing many times on the pages of this blog, as well as outlining some of the exciting new flashy features printer manufacturers are adding onto their new models.

One of the advancements we haven’t given much exposure to, however, is the integration of touch-screen technology onto printers. Touch screens on printers aren’t exactly a new development, with touch screen printers around since the early 2000s.

However, touch-screen technology has come on leaps and bounds with the recent proliferation on smartphones, tablets and even touch-screen PCs. This advance in technology has directly affected how touch-screens are used with printers, making them easier-to-use and more intuitive.

What’s more, it’s also made the price of a touch-screen printer a lot cheaper, giving more cash to spend on printing supplies...or not, if you happen to use Cartridge World’s business direct service.

But what advantages do touch-screen printers offer over regular printers?

Easy Printer Management

Managing your printer can be a real pain, especially if you’re doing it from a desktop. You either have to rely on confusing software developed by the manufacturer or take a bold leap into your PC’s control panel and try to decipher which settings you need to change to get your printer working as you want it to.

Touch-screen printers, for the most part, remove this element, allowing you to manage your printer on the printer itself. This means you can set duplex mode, alter your printer network settings and check the status of your printer cartridges at the press of a button.

Print Directly From Your Printer

Want to print out some photos from your digital camera or smartphone but can’t be bothered to turn on your computer, hook up your device via USB and upload the photos to your computer for printing? Then you might just love touch-screen printing.

A great deal of touch-screen printers enable you to upload your photos and files directly from a memory card or USB stick. Simply plug in the device your file is stored on, select the file you want to print and hit print on the touch-screen – simple!

On some wi-fi enabled models, you can also print directly from the internet using a dedicated web app!

But what if you want to print a photo that requires editing? Well, never fear because...

Edit Photos on Your Printer

Yep, some touch-screen printers allow you to edit your photos on the printer itself. Now, you obviously won’t get the kind of editing options you’d find on dedicated photo-editing software like Photoshop, but you will be able to crop and resize, as well as adding some (admittedly basic) effects to make your photo look a bit more snazzy.

Your Own Mini-Tablet

Okay, so this feature is limited to a couple of models at the moment (including HP’s Photosmart eStation) but it’s still incredibly cool. Some touch-screen printer models will allow you to detach the touch-screen from your printer entirely, giving you your very own mini-tablet from which to print.

And that’s not all – HP’s eStation features the Zeen, a tablet which doubles up as an e-reader and a device from which to access the internet. Fancy checking Facebook whilst you’re printing out a particularly-sizey document? Look no further than a detachable touch-screen!

No matter what printer you choose, you’ll still have to face the sometimes excessive cost of printing. Pop down to your local Cartridge World store or take a look around the site to find out how we can help you reduce this cost significantly!