11/02   A one megapixel picture on screen looks pretty good.  Yet if you print
        the same picture on a sheet of paper that's the same size as the screen
        image, it looks bad regardless of what inkjet/laser printer you use.
        Why is there a difference?
        \_ That's a good question.  Assuming a proper photo print out
           (real developed photo or dye-sublimation printing), I can
           think of a couple of possibilities.  One is that a monitor
           is an active display device (it glows at you) whereas a
           printed media is a passive medium (it only reflects
           light).  That probably gives the monitor a perceived
           advantage.  Another is that printed medium usually has
           higher resolution.  Since the dots are smaller, we may look
           closer, expecting more.  If the printed medium's pixels are
           made the same size as that of a monitor output, it may
           reduce the perceived difference.  It's kind of like
           displaying DVD-resolution video using HDTV-resolution
           display device.  Unless the scaling algorithm is very good,
           it gives worse perceived crispness to the image than when
           the same image is displayed using matching resolution
           display device.
        \_ Because we're used to seeing crappy-looking images on screen.  -tom
        \_ I'm not sure about 1mp, but photo paper always made shit nice.
        \_ Two factors.  1. surface of paper is not smooth.  2. the resolution
           of printer is very limited.
           \_ Look, if you don't know the answer, just keep your mouth shut,
              OK?  Printer resolution is *much higher* than screen resolution.
              Your screen runs at maybe 100dpi; cheap printers print at
              600dpi, good ones higher than that.  -tom
              \_ yeah, how may color can a printer produce per pixel again?
                 we are talking about EFFECTIVE pixel here.  If all you have
                 is a 16-color EGA screen, you will need a quite a bit
                 DPI to make the picture look half-way decent.  *FURTHER*
                 many of the printer has a much lower mechanical resolution
                 than optical resolution.  And the mechanical resolution is
                 typicaly max out at 300 dpis.
                 \_ which is still three times better than your screen.
                    And while your video card may produce 16 million colors,
                    that's almost certainly more than your monitor can
                    display, especially most LCD panels.  Cheap inkjet
                    printers can produce fine-looking prints from files
                    of sufficient resolution; 1 megapixel is simply not
                    enough resolution.  You could sent one to a pro developer
                    and it still would look fairly crappy.  Again, it looks
                    good on screen because we are willing to accept extremely
                    low-resolution images on screen (TV is only 320x240).  -tom
                    \_ Actually many (most?) LCD are 8-bit now (16M colors).
                       They may only produce like 73% of the color space
                       but some get to high 90s. Either way it is much better
                       than a cheap inkjet printer which may have like 16
                       colors.
              \_ whoa there tom.
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        \_ On your monitor, each pixel is RGB 888 or 16M possible colors
           per pixel. Printers have far less color precision. They can only
           produce those colors by dithering etc. with more dots.
           produce those colors by dithering etc. with more dots. There should
           be some scale to print at that would look around the same though.
           Dye-sublimation printers can do the full color range.
        \_ Is this a home print job or you used one of the various online
           services?
           \_ Actually, I tried both an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 inkjet at home,
              and various 600dpi mid-range color laser printers at work.  -- OP