Printers are undoubtedly the workhorses of the modern office. Between scanning, printing, or even faxing files, they keep the documents flowing and, as a result, keep the lights on. But regular printers come with one notable limitation: paper sizes. While you can print A4 (or sometimes even A3) documents, anything over that is often beyond the capabilities of a standard office printer. For that, you have to turn to the wide format printer. But how to choose one? Well, it turns out that larger-format printers have a decent bit in common with their smaller counterparts. Here’s what you need to know.

What Is a Wide Format Printer, Exactly?

There’s a bit of ambiguity in the “printing world,” so to speak, especially when it comes to naming printer sizes. For one, “normal printers” don’t just constitute the standard A4 or letter sizes that most offices are used to at this point. Some industries refer to the paper size of A3 (which is exactly twice that of A4, or 11.7 by 16.5 inches) as “normal-sized.” On the other hand, some shops refer to printers that can print only in A3 and nothing more as a “wide format printer.”

Typically, however, wide format printers (or large-format printers) print on rolls or paper (or sometimes vinyl and other materials) that are at least 18 or even 36 inches wide.

This gives the printer some obvious benefits, such as being able to work on much larger documents or graphic designs. The larger size can be crucial in some industries like architecture and engineering, where blueprints and designs can easily go beyond the “standard” A3 page for large projects.

Alternatively, you can use a wide format printer for marketing essentials, such as banners, posters, various signage, or booth materials. When you transcend the limits of the traditional sheet of paper, you get a whole host of options to play around with.

Wide Format Printer Types

Depending on what you need to print, there are a few different categories of printers you should look into. The right combination of these categories (or rather, the printer that satisfies them) will likely be the one that matches your needs the most.

Printer Paint and Mediums

There are a few different printing methods that most printers will use, and wide format printers typically expand upon the traditional inkjet vs. laser dichotomy:

  • Inkjet printers are far more common in the area of wide format printing as the printing technology of dropping ink on paper is even more effective on a larger scale.
  • Laser printers need charged drums to pick up the toner and pass it onto the paper, then melt the toner to release and bind the pigment to the surface. While laser printers are fast and efficient for smaller formats, they become pretty much impossible to find for larger sizes.
  • UV printing uses an entirely different medium to print on, such as glass, plastic, or metal, which means that the use cases for these printers are also diverse.
  • Solvent printers use special materials that are designed for a specific medium, mainly fabric or canvas, vinyl, and paper. The solvent soaks deeper into the material, creating a weather-resistant finish.
  • Dye sublimation printers are essentially copiers for fabric, transferring a finished design from a stencil to a product (usually apparel).

As you might discover, you could be limited to a single printer type depending on what you need, and your requirements might need more than one printer to fulfill.

Monochrome vs. Color

If you’re staying in the realm of inkjet printing on paper, you might be more inclined to use a more efficient black-and-white printer. Somewhat unfortunately, wide format printing typically comes only in color.

If your printing needs are limited to working in black and white, determine exactly how large your projects generally are. Based on that upper limit, you might be able to find a printer that works only in monochrome. This will often allow you to get a printer that’s more budget-friendly, faster, or higher resolution than a color printer of the same size.

Alternatively, look into the discrepancies between monochrome and color printing for specific models. In some cases, black-and-white printing uses a separate printing method that is faster and more efficient than color printing.

Printer vs. Plotter

Another somewhat confusing category of printers is plotters. Historically, printing and plotting used to be entirely separate methods of transferring designs onto paper. The first used ink heads (much like modern printers), while the second used pens, markers, or even knives to draw or cut out a picture from paper or vinyl.

Over time, plotters became increasingly more complex, but they switched to ink heads similar to traditional printers. Today, the only difference is in how detailed the print can be.

Plotters (sometimes called technical printers to acknowledge the convergent design) work much better with vector imagery, reducing the discrepancy between the digital design and the printed result. This is contrasted by raster imagery – more common in traditional (and smaller-scale) printing – which approximates pixels by the data found on surrounding ones when increasing the resolution.

For example, a wide format printer that is used for graphic design (such as marketing images) doesn’t need a high resolution to maintain clarity, as the image is often viewed from so far away that the resolution details are not visible. By contrast, an architectural or engineering blueprint needs to be scrutinized from up close, making every single line and pixel matter.

Multifunction Printers

If your wide format printer doesn’t need to print that wide, then you might also seek a printer that can also scan or even fax. It’s one of the few ways to digitize a schematic without losing significant details in the process, and even then it’s limited to formats slightly above A3.

If you manage to find a printer that can also scan large documents, then you should be prepared to pay for it, both in terms of money and speed. Wide-format scanning is often done similarly to the printing process than traditional scanning. Instead of laying the paper on a flat surface to get a complete scan, it needs to be rolled into the scanner and digitized one section at a time. It makes for a much slower process than traditional scanning, especially if you want a higher image fidelity.

Can You Avoid Buying a Wide Format Printer Entirely?

If all those categorizations seem confusing, or you’re worried that you’ll make a wrong choice and get the wrong printer for you, don’t fret just yet. Some print providers or printing companies offer the option of outsourcing wide format printing. There are a few notable aspects that change with outsourcing:

  • Speed: The actual printing speed doesn’t suddenly drop when you outsource to a printer, and neither does the rate at which you can get your print back. You need to coordinate the printing and delivery time with the provider’s schedule. Then, someone from your office needs to pick up the finished print or the printer has to deliver it to the office.
  • Control: A provider doesn’t care if what you’re printing might have an error on it. If you miss a mistake and it appears on the finished product, all you can do is correct the mistake and reorder the print. This adds to the time (and cost) of finishing the job.
  • Availability: If you own a printer, it’ll be set up just the way you need it every time. Additionally, modern printers can accept print jobs via the internet, allowing you to print remotely, on a fixed schedule, or in a rush when needed.
  • Security: If you’re worried about someone seeing your designs or confidential data, then outsourcing print jobs can be really risky.

Find the Right Printer Provider for You

With so much hinging on getting the right printer, based on a multitude of categories, you might have a problem determining your company’s needs. That’s where a print provider like Da-Com can come in handy. After decades of experience with clients across industries, we can anticipate your printing needs and recommend a system that will work best for you. After that, we can help you design the ultimate printing and document management pipeline to ensure you can focus on growing your business.

For all details on how we can help your St. Louis, Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, and Western Illinois company get the perfect wide format printer, contact Da-Com today to get started.