The Difference Between a Commercial Printer and a Desktop Printer?
When you encounter instructions in desktop publishing articles and tutorials telling you to "talk to your printer" they are not telling you to whisper to your inkjet or engage your laser printer in meaningful conversation - although a few sharp words might make you feel better when the printer jams or you run out of ink in the middle of a print job.
You can safely assume that "talk to your printer" means consulting with your commerical print service about your print job.
There are some main industrial printing processes designed for certain types of jobs:
Offset lithography.
Flexography.
Digital printing: inkjet & xerography.
Gravure.
Screen printing.
Web press printing
People often ask
What is conventional print?
What is an offset lithograph print?
What is flexographic printing?
Well—It's man vs. machine when comparing a commercial printer with a desktop printer.
Desktop printer refers to an actual piece of hardware such as a dot matrix printer, a laser printer, or inkjet printer used in homes and businesses. They are usually small enough to fit on a desk or table and are used to print documents on paper, transparencies or other materials by sending a digital file via computer or it's network.
The commercial printer is actually a business and its owner and/or employees who are printing professionals. A print shop may have printers (machines) for digital printing but they also usually have web or sheet presses for offset lithography and other commercial printing processes.
A commercial printer is a printing company that prints a file using one of a variety of methods, often involving a printing press. The printing method to be used affects how the digital file must be prepared. Commercial printers usually require very specific file preparation or prepress tasks. This knowledge is what we specialize in!
As professional pre-press ad print brokers, we act as the liaison between you—the novice— and the commercial printing company. You never pay more to us than you would if you paid them directly, because the printers we've built relationships with discount the printing as long as we handle the pre-press and preparation.
It's a win/win.
Let us handle your printing, and leave the details to us.
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