Laser Printing vs Litho Printing

Laser Printing

Digital printing is a method of printing using digital techniques in which the data and images are printed directly from a computer onto paper, including those developed for computer printers such as inkjet or laser printers. The process differs from lithography, flexography, gravure, and letterpress printing in several ways:

• Every print can be different, because printing plates are not required, as in traditional methods.
• There is less waste chemical and paper, because there is no need to bring the image "up to colour" and check for registration and position.
• The ink or toner does not permeate the substrate, as does conventional ink, but forms a thin layer on the surface and may in some systems be additionally adhered to the substrate by using a fuser fluid with heat process (toner) or UV curing process (ink).

Because there is less initial setup, it is useful for rapid prototyping, and cost effective for small print runs.

• Generally cheaper
• No plates or films to be produced, therefore costs are limited
• Quick turnaround
• Large format printing

• Colour recognition can be poor
• Digital printing can often produce banding on flat colour (the same as inkjet printers)
• Expensive for large qualities
• Same price for full colour as it is for spot colour
• Limitations on printing to certain paper types/weights

Litho Printing

Compared to other printing methods, offset / lithoprinting is best suited for cost-effectively producing large volumes of high quality prints in an economically sound manner that requires little maintenance.

Offset Lithography is one of the most common uses to create printed matter. A few of its common applications include: newspapers, magazines, brochures, stationery, and books.

Many modern offset presses are using computer to plate systems as opposed to the older computer to film workflows, which further increases their quality.

Advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:

• Consistent high image quality. Offset printing produces sharp and clean images and type more easily than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.
• Quick and easy production of printing plates.
• Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface. Properly developed plates running in conjunction with optimized inks and fountain solution may exceed run lengths of a million impressions.
• Cost. Offset printing is the cheapest method to produce high quality printing in commercial printing quantities.

Disadvantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:

• Slightly inferior image quality compared to rotogravure or photogravure printing.
• Propensity for anodized aluminum printing plates to become sensitive (due to chemical oxidation) and print in non-image/background areas when developed plates are not cared for properly.
• Time and cost associated with producing plates and printing press setup. As a result, very small quantity printing jobs are now moving to digital offset machines.

	LITHO	LASER
Example	Preprinted letterhead on a high quality paper.	A letterhead printed from a word document at your office.
Definition	Commercial Printing method used for large print projects.	The final output of a project is produced on an inkjet, laser, or other type of desktop printer.
Colour	When sending a project to a commercial printer it is possible to use the Pantone colour system to specify exact final colours in selected areas. This is especially useful for setting logo colours because you will be able to use consistent colour combinations throughout your company's media lifespan, regardless of which commercial printer you use.	All laser or digital printers have their own colour settings and often one will get different results when printing the same file on different machines. Often one also gets a more faded final result.
	Litho printing also allows the use of metallic inks.	One cannot use metallic inks in a Laser printer.
Quantity	The design, preparation and printing of Litho print projects tends to be more expensive. The good news is that the larger the number of copies to be printed the less the cost becomes.	Laser printing is recommended for small projects and does not necessarily mean that you need to use your personal desktop printer. There are many small printing companies that can provide brighter prints for a smaller fee than litho printing. Weigh up the need for accurate colours against your media budget.
Quality	Litho printing is often done on better quality paper than laser printing therefore the paper often has a longer lifespan.	The quality of the paper is a definite factor in the lifespan of your printed document. Colours do tend to rub off.
	General quality is definitely better than Laser printers and Grey Pebbles will advise you on the best processes to get the final result that you want.	What you see is what you get. The quality of a laser print does not compare to a litho print.
	The fact that customised effects such as embossing, spot varnishing, special papers and metallic inks can be integrated allows for a more exciting and memorable final product.	The use of special papers is limited to what is publicly available. It is almost impossible to recreate commercial quality effects on laser printed. (One can get creative with hand made effects.)