What is a generic and vendor printer driver?

Question

I'm studying IT and I am clueless about what these printer drivers are all about and am having trouble finding answers. so if you could please help me I would appreciate it very much.

Answer 1

Hi there

A generic driver will let you use the basic functions of the printer (without any warning - low ink etc') and will be slower then if you use the vendor drivers.

Vendor drivers will take advantage of all the feature of the printer. you will get a better result of graphics and fonts and the printer will work out faster.

Cheers

Answer 2

A generic printer driver will just use the printer's simplest functions to print a page. Using a generic driver, text pages should print, but graphics may not print as you wish. Print jobs will normally be slower with a generic printer driver.

Vendors' printer drivers will take advantage of every feature within the printer. Using them will result in better rendering of graphics and fonts and faster print jobs (usually -- If not, revert to a generic driver!).

In general, I use vendors' printer driver when they're available.