What Does All This Resolution Mean/All-In-Ones?

Question

I use a Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 1.5 GB SDRAM.  All-in-ones are priced reasonably this holiday season.  My old printer is ancient.  I am confused by all the technical specs, etc.
1. One all-in-one has a maximum print resolution of 5760 X 1440 dpi.  What does that mean?
     It has the following for the scanner: Optical Resolution: 4800 dpi; maximum resolution: 9600 X 9600 dpi interpolated. What does that mean?
     It also has a scanner Bit Dept 48-bit color, 24-bit output.  What does that mean?
2. Second all-in-one has a maximum print resolution of 5760 X1440 pixels.  What does that mean?
     It has a scanner resolution of 1200 X 2400 pixels with 48-bit color.  What does that mean?
3. Third all-in-one has a maximum print resolution of 5760 X 1440 optimized dpi.  Meaning?
     Scanner has optical resolution of 2400 dpi and hardware resolution 2400 X 2400 dpi (max).  Meaning?
     Scanner has maximum resolution of 9600 X 9600 dpi interpolated.  Meaning?
     Scanner bit depth: 48-bit color/ 24-bit output.  Meaning?
Happy Holidays!

Answer 1

1. Don't believe it, it's hype. Interploated means we can make it seem like more than it is, mostly. 4800 is the real one.
2. Those are how many dots per inch it can do Horizontally & Vertically.
3. Not certain, but likely it's Max resolution.
2400 dots per inch is what it really does, but using motly magical "something for nothing" we can make every dot.pixel be 4 dots/pixels
24 bit output is it's max color scan, which is 8bits each for Red, Blue, & green, though it looks for 16 bits of each to decide how to cut it down.
Always look at the lowest numbers... & make sure it has 10.5.8 drivers.