Most people think of a plotter as simply a large printer. However, plotters are actually quite different from printers. While printers use inkjet or laser technology to deposit dots of ink or toner onto paper, plotters use pens or other cutting tools to create lines and shapes. This allows them to produce much finer detail than a printer can achieve. Plotters are also much slower than printers, so they are not typically used for printing documents. Instead, they are often used for creating graphics, designs, and maps.