Digital vs. Desktop: What’s the difference?
Customers often ask us why their artwork prints differently on their desktop printer than on our digital press. The reason is that our digital press has a print quality that rivals the high quality of a traditional lithographic press. Plus, a digital press does things that no other type of press or printer can do. Let’s compare the capabilities of our digital press to a desktop printer.
Color-Critical Printing
Our digital press can match almost all of the Pantone colors used by businesses in their corporate identity guides. Desktop printers that can be purchased off-the-shelf at a store lack the ability to accurately print Pantone colors. Many desktop printers struggle to print standard colors correctly, also. For example, your royal blue may print purple on your desktop printer, but it will print accurately on our digital press.
Small or Large Quantities
Digital presses are capable of printing large or small quantities, from 1 to 10,000! Such flexibility makes a digital press an economical choice for many printing projects, and allows us to offer lower prices to our customers. However, desktop printers are limited to printing small quantities.
Wide Rage of Media
Digital presses can print on many thicknesses of paper, including envelopes. Other papers or media that are appropriate for signage, banners, and menus are all available on our digital press. Most desktop printers are only able to print letterhead-weight papers.
Special Capabilities of Digital Presses
These are some of the features that are found only on digital presses:
- Large capacity for printing banners, posters, or signage
- Saddle-stitch binding for catalogs, annual reports, & employee handbooks
- Accurate front-to-back registration for two-sided projects
- Folding during the print run
- Sustainable, plant-based toners and eco-friendly practices in manufacturing
- Variable data printing for every-door direct mail fulfillment
In Conclusion
Desktop printers are indispensable in the office or home, but they lack the high-quality printing, accuracy of color, and other abilities of digital presses. Therefore, we recommend that a commercial printing firm be consulted on any printing needs where the abilities of a digital press are best suited for the project at hand.