In computing, printer is a kind of peripheral device, which can represent graphics or text on paper or similar physical media. The first computer printer in the world was a 19th century mechanical drive device invented by Charles Babbage for his differential engine. The earliest commercial printers used the mechanical devices of electric typewriters and teletypewriters. The need for higher speeds has led to the development of new systems dedicated to computers. In the 1980s, there were daisy wheel systems similar to typewriters, line printers with similar output but faster speed, and lattice systems that could mix text and graphics but produce relatively low quality output. The plotter is used for those who need high-quality line art, such as blueprints.

The low-cost laser printer was launched in 1984 with the first HP LaserJet, and postscript was added to Apple laserwriter next year, which set off a printing revolution called desktop publishing. Laser printers that use postscript to mix text and graphics, such as dot matrix printers, but their quality levels were previously only available from commercial typesetting systems. By 1990, the simplest printing tasks, such as flyers and brochures, were now created on a personal computer, followed by laser printing. Expensive offset printing systems are discarded as scrap. The 1988 HP deskjet offers the same advantages as laser printers in terms of flexibility, but produces lower quality output (depending on paper) through much cheaper mechanisms. Ink jet system quickly replaced dot matrix printer and daisy wheel printer from the market. By the 2000s, this high-quality printer had fallen below $100 and became commonplace.

From the 1990s to the 2000s, the rapid update of Internet e-mail has largely replaced the need for printing as a mobile document, and a variety of reliable storage systems mean that "physical backup" is no longer available today. E-book readers and tablets have even replaced the need to print out on public transport or airplanes for "offline reading.". Nowadays, traditional printers have been more used for special purposes, such as printing photos or works of art, rather than essential peripherals.

Since around 2010, 3D printing has become a hot topic. It can create physical objects with the same effort as the early laser printers, such as making brochures. These devices are at the earliest stage of development and have not yet been popularized.