Various questions often arise when it comes to wide-format printing processes, with these often influencing whether our customers here at Prizma Graphics ultimately opt for Canon ImagePROGRAF or HP DesignJet Z6 printers.

One common area of concern in this regard is borderless printing – including whether a borderless look is actually desired for a particular print, and if so, how this can be achieved.

You might be reading this, of course, as someone who prefers the appearance of a white border framing your printed images. Many people, however – and you may be one of these – favour the full edge-to-edge look, on the grounds of its impressive visual impact.

If you do wish to achieve a borderless look with your prints, having to constantly trim them to size, followed by throwing away the excess media that hasn’t been printed on, could be extremely frustrating.

After all, you will be throwing away media that you effectively still had to pay for. It is also wasteful at a time when individuals and organisations are generally trying to do everything possible to minimise waste to help protect the environment.

Canon and HP machines can vary in their approach to borderless printing

Let’s share the good news first: if you’re presently on the lookout for large-format printers, comparing Canon ImagePROGRAF devices with HP DesignJet printers, a wide-format machine from the Canon range can be an excellent solution for banishing those borders.

Purchase a new Canon ImagePROGRAF printer from our online store at Prizma Graphics today, and if you don’t wish to have a border on your prints, you won’t be forced to have one. It will be simply a case of instructing the printer to print edge-to-edge on whatever size of paper roll you insert into it.

This functionality is made possible by a sophisticated sensor, which measures the loaded media’s width to allow a Canon ImagePROGRAF machine to print right to the edge. That means zero white border, and zero need for you to waste any media.

How do the HP DesignJet Z6 and Canon GP-4600S handle borderless printing?

To give you a more specific example of what we’re talking about, let’s look at the Canon GP-4600S’s borderless printing option, compared to the situation if you were to create a print of the same size on the HP DesignJet Z6 with V-Trimmer.

While the HP does use a vertical cutter to slice off the left and right margins of the paper, this inevitably leaves a certain amount of unprinted paper that has to be discarded. By contrast, the Canon offers true free size borderless printing, with the sensor accurately detecting the edges of the paper roll and printing to the entire width accordingly.

Naturally, how a given wide-format printer achieves borderless printing might be far from the only factor that influences your final choice of printer to buy. So, for further advice from our experts, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Prizma Graphics team.