Difference between digital and offset printing

[bejamshi]

Hi,

what is the difference between digital and offset printing quality wise?
I noticed digital is cheaper, I assume there is not much setup involved.

For run of the mill like business cards and postcards which way would you go?

Thanks.

[jimking]

There's digital toner printers and digital offset printers. Toner is ok, builds spots, sometimes hard to match color and very good for variable data jobs and low counts. Digital offset is good, runs spots but good price for low counts. When the count goes beyond 10,000-20,000 copies for both types of printing, you're most likely to get a better price for offset.

[bejamshi]

interesting jim, ;)

[PrintDriver]

There's digital inkjet too.
For smaller runs.

And all wide format is digital. Most is inkjet. One process is photo exposure.

[budafist]

People still do small runs of offset when colour is important. Say you have spot colours and/or specials like neons and metallics.

[bejamshi]

I guess digital saves a lot of hassale on setup and cost doesn't it?

[budafist]

Digital for small run full colour, offset for large runs or small run 1 colour. In general.

[bejamshi]

Nice thanks, you guys are the most helpful on this forum, ofcourse they are others that contribute too and I so much appreciated.