This kind of printer is seen as slightly old-fashioned these days but is very useful for printing out large amounts of text, especially where quality isn't important. On the technical aspects of a Dot Matrix printer, there is generally a vertical column of 48 small needles (or pins), each of which can be pushed forward, pressing an ink ribbon against the paper. Compared to pretty much every other kind of printer available, the Dot Matrix printer is very noisy.