Thermal Printers
A thermal printer heats spots on paper with an array of tiny, fast-acting heating elements. At one time, these printers were an inexpensive alternative to dot-matrix printers for the low-end, low-volume market, even though their paper costs were much higher. Early fax machines, today's non-plain-paper fax machines, and some label makers are examples of thermal printers. For uses other than faxing, this type of printer is rare, too. You might find it used to print simple sales receipts.