Brother MFC-J430w Review: Fast MFP for Little Cash

For a printer that retails for only $100 (as of January 3, 2012) and is heavily discounted online, the Brother MFC-J430w color inkjet multifunction (copy/fax/print/scan) gets things done in a hurry: Text pages print at a brisk 7.6 pages per minute or faster. Other strengths include sharp text output and below-average ink costs, if you stick with the high-capacity supplies. You get some nice features for the price, but note that color graphics quality is merely adequate, paper capacity is minimal, and automatic two-sided printing or scanning is nonexistent.

The MFC-J430w's appearance is best described as conventional. The all-black MFP has a small, 1.9-inch LCD that tells you what's going on, plus the usual array of navigation, job, and fax buttons. The buttons are logically placed, and navigating the menus is very easy. You can even scan to a PC directly from the control panel.

Although the MFC-J430w is easy to set up and supports both Wi-Fi and USB connections, it has no ethernet, no card slots, and no USB/PictBridge port. If you frequently need to print photos from a camera, look for another MFP. The input tray holds just 100 sheets, and the ADF for the A4-size scanner holds 20 sheets. It's definitely a light-duty machine.

Brother has implemented one software feature that's currently unique: The iPrint&Scan app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7 lets you scan from the MFP directly to your phone or tablet via Wi-Fi. It's pretty cool. Printing over email happens through Google Cloud Print, which has apps for iOS and Android, but not Windows Phone 7. Brother provides both PC and Mac drivers, as well as OCR software (Scansoft Paper Port 12 for Windows and Presto PageManager for the Mac).

Alas, while Brother embraces the Mac, it's less than a bear hug: You'll find no support for even manual two-sided printing. Also, you'll need to download the latest driver from Brother’s website to get around a problem we encountered using version 4.1.4 from our installation CD: The Mac scanner driver would not install automatically. We confirmed that the company solved this problem with driver version 4.1.5. (If you've already installed version 4.1.4, you'll have to download and install the new driver, then delete and re-add the printer, to fix the problem.)

The MFC-J430w's ink costs aren't as low as those for the Kodak ESP C310, a like-priced competitor, but they are cheaper than average if you use the higher-capacity cartridges. With the standard 300-page cartridges ($15 black and $10 per color), you pay 5 cents per page, 3.3 cents per page per color, and 15 cents for a four-color page. The 600-page XL cartridges ($25 black and $15 color) reduce costs to 4.2 cents per black page, 2.5 cents per page per color, and 11.7 cents for each four-color page. Stick with the XLs for the best deal.

Output from the MFC-J430w is competent. Text appears dark gray rather than black, and color graphics look clear but a bit washed out, with shadows that darken too quickly. Our larger photo scan suffered even more from the steep contrast curve. Copies are generally good.

I mentioned up front that the MFC-J430w is fast. As I noted, in our tests, text pages printed at a faster-than-average 7.6 ppm on the PC, but they exited at an even more impressive rate of 8.2 ppm on the Mac. Half-page photos printed to plain paper at a brisk 4.8 ppm, but slowed to a more normal 1.2 ppm when we used Brother's glossy photo paper. Full-page photos printed on the Mac to the same glossy paper took about 2 minutes apiece, which is about average, but scans and copies to plain paper were quite quick.

If your scanning and printing needs are minimal, but you want jobs to be done in a hurry, the Brother MFC-J430w is a cheap and efficient option. The output is serviceable, the ink is affordable, and--aside from the lack of automatic duplexing--the MFP has no salient weaknesses. If your budget is even tighter, the Canon Pixma MX360 has a lower purchase price, but its ink costs are higher.

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Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw Review: Low-Priced, With Limited Features

The small-office-oriented Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw color laser multifunction printer looks expensive, but it’s available for just $450 (as of November 9, 2011). After a couple of hours of enduring its lack of automatic duplexing, sluggish speed, and other drawbacks, however, you'll understand why it's so inexpensive. And your first trip to the store for consumables will provide another moment of realization: The MF8080Cw's toner is hardly bargain-priced.

The ImageClass MF8080Cw's paper-handling features consist of a 150-sheet input tray, a 125-sheet output tray; a 50-sheet ADF, and a manual feed slot. These components are adequate for a small workgroup as long as users don't want to scan or print in duplex. Though you can't do anything about the lack of duplex scanning, manual duplex printing is available--you just need to find it. By default, it's disabled; and to enable it, you have to visit a rather obscure location in the control-panel menus: Adjustment/Maintenance/Special Processing/Special Paper Processing.

The MF8080Cw has some nice features--and a host of rough edges. Though the secure printing is nice, the labyrinthine process for enable manual duplexing is a head-scratcher. The five-line monochrome LCD display is fine, but the buttons could be better delineated (with larger text, better icons, and more of them). The printer driver is as terse and technical as they come--and everything is done just a bit differently or is located in a slightly unexpected place. In my hands-on evaluation, the Windows driver didn't provide a list of paper types, but the Mac driver did; I could select the type of paper to use only at the printer itself.

Setup via ethernet and USB worked fine, and the MF8080Cw's HTML configuration pages are well-rendered and logically laid out. Matters got a little dicier when we tried the wireless installation. First, you must power-cycle the MF8080Cw if you want to switch from ethernet to Wi-Fi, or vice versa. Also, you can't connect both ethernet and Wi-Fi on the printer simultaneously.

More perplexingly, the MF8080Cw initially appeared incapable of detecting any of the Wi-Fi networks in our area. Apparently, the machine was overwhelmed by the 20+ Wi-Fi networks detectable in our wireless-saturated building. In locations with fewer networks, it list all of them without a hitch. This problem arose only when we used manual setup and searching for SSIDs, not when we tested it via WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), which the unit also supports. Canon quickly provided a firmware update that partly corrected the detection problem; however, the MFP still detected only the 10 strongest network signals in the area. If you can't find your network on that list, you can enter your network’s SSID manually via the control panel.

For a workgroup laser printer, the MF8080Cw prints slowly, primarily because of a tediously long wait for the first page of any document. Once the unit gets going, subsequent pages appear far more quickly. On-board memory is only 128MB, which might have something to do with the slow initial pages. Plain-text pages and pages with a mix of text and graphics printed at 7.2 pages per minute on the PC and 7.4 ppm on the Mac. A snapshot-size photo printed on the PC emerged in about 30 seconds (2 ppm) on either plain (Hammermill LaserPrint), or photo (Hammermill Color Laser Gloss) paper. Full-page photos printed on the Mac took about 38 seconds, which works out to 1.6 ppm. Both preview and full scan times were quite fast--less than 20 seconds for a full scan.

Generally, the print quality of the MF8080Cw was quite good. Text looked sharp, though it introduced a distinctly pink cast to monochrome graphics. The pinkness turned unacceptably purple in a grayscale version of a full-page color photo. Color photos seemed a tad grainy, but they had a lively and warm palette. In our group photo of PCWorld employees, however, everyone appear to be sporting a spray-on tan. Line-art scans suffered more distortion than we usually see.

The MF8080Cw's toner costs disappointed us; and since the unit ships with 800-page "starter" cartridges, you'll have to replace them rather quickly. Toner is easy to change via a slide-out tray that comes into view when you fold down the front panel. Replacement cartridges start with an $80 black cartridge that lasts 2300 pages, for a per page cost of about 3.5 cents. The $75 cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges last for 1500 pages, or 5 cents per color per page. All told, a four-color page costs about 17.5 cents to print--a more expensive average than most inkjets offer.

If you don't print a lot, the cheaper-printer-more-expensive-toner can work in your favor, but that rarely is the case with a workgroup printer--and it doesn't square with the MF8080Cw's 30,000-page monthly duty cycle. The warranty is for just one year, though the unit seems sturdily built and we had no trouble with the paper path.

The Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw's lack of automatic duplexing, its pricey toner, its weak grayscale graphics, and its frustratingly long delay in producing the first page of any print job are good reasons to check the competition for a better deal. But most MFPs in this price range aren't clearly better: The Dell 1355cnw is faster but has much more expensive toner, while the HP Laserjet Pro CM1415fnw is a little slower and its consumables are a little costlier. We recommend spending a little more and getting a better deal, such as with Canon's similar-looking ImageClass MF8380Cdw, which is faster, produces better-looking output, and offers a better price on toner.

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Canon ImageClass MF8380Cdw Review: Small-Office Contender Despite Slow Printing

At $600 (as of November 9, 2011), the Canon ImageClass MF8380Cdw costs $150 more than its cousin, the ImageClass MF8080Cw, but is an infinitely better product. It's faster, it costs less to operate, and it produces better output. It also offers automatic duplexing to save on paper costs, and it's set to duplex by default--a first in my book, and major green kudos to Canon for that. On top of everything else, it's a very competitive workgroup color laser multifunction printer (copy/print/scan/fax) in its price range.

The MF8380Cdw's automatic duplexing capabilities include copying, scanning, and printing both sides of a document in one pass. The bottom-mounted paper cassette holds 250 sheets (100 more than the MF8080CW's maximum), and the ADF holds 50 sheets. There is no slot for envelopes as with the MF8080CW; instead, the front folds down to reveal a 50-sheet multipurpose tray. The output tray holds a sizable 150 sheets.

The MF8380Cdw's control panel and printer driver lack the user-friendliness that typifies Canon's consumer-oriented machines. The software seems incomplete, too: For instance, the Mac printer driver contained a valid list of paper types, but the Windows printer driver did not. The organization and the placement of options in the driver are odd, too. On the other hand, the MF Toolbox utility for scanning and OCR is a model of efficiency and friendly design.

Setup via USB and ethernet connections is easy. Wireless, however, requires that you power-cycle the MF8380Cdw to switch from ethernet to Wi-Fi, or vice versa. Note, too, that you cannot have both ethernet and Wi-Fi connected on the printer simultaneously.

Then things went wonky: The MF8380Cdw initially appeared incapable of detecting any of the Wi-Fi networks in our area, perhaps overwhelmed by the number (more than 20) that are detectable in our building. In locations with fewer networks, it successfully listed all of them. We tested this feature using manual setup and searching for SSIDs, not using WPS (Wi-Fi-protected setup), which the unit also supports. Canon quickly provided a firmware update that partly fixed the earlier problem, though the MF8380Cdw still can detect only the 10 strongest network signals in the area. If yours isn't one of them, you can enter your network's SSID manually via the control panel.

The MF8380Cdw is slow for a workgroup laser MFP, due to a significant lag before the first page of documents shows up. Including the lag, text and mixed text and graphics printed at 11.1 pages per minute on the PC and 11.6 ppm on the Mac. A snapshot-sized photo took about 18.6 seconds (which works out to 3.2 ppm) to print on either plain, or photo glossy paper. Full-page photos printed on the Mac at a lively 2.4 ppm. Scans were impressively fast: 8.5 seconds for previews, and between 12 and 17.2 seconds for final scans.

The quality of prints produced by the MF8380Cdw was very good overall. Text looked extremely sharp, and monochrome graphics were truly black-and-white, with none of the pinkish cast that plagues the cheaper MF8080Cw. Color photos were just a bit grainy, but they had a lively and warm palette. Flesh tones had a decided bent toward orange, unfortunately.

The MF8380Cdw's toner costs are better than average, but only if you buy the black in Canon's dual-cartridge Value Pack. You can buy black, 3400-page replacement cartridges individually for $127 (or about 3.7 cents per page) or in a two-pack for $180 (which lowers the per-page cost to 2.6 cents). The 2900-page cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges are available only as individual units and cost $122 (or 4.2 cents per color per page). The overall price for a four-color page is 15.3 cents--reasonable, though not dirt-cheap. Note: The unit ships with 1200-page black and 1400-page color "starter" cartridges.

The Canon ImageClass MF8380CDW does just about everything well; and though its control panel and printer driver could be less clunky, this unit belongs on your small office's short list of color laser MFPs. For comparison, check out the Brother MFC-9560CDW and the Oki MC361.

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Brother MFC-J825DW review: Midpriced MFP with CD/DVD printing

Brother's new $150 (as of September 27, 2011) MFC-J825DW color inkjet multifunction printer (print/scan/copy/fax) is a budget-friendly choice for your small or home office, enhanced by a few higher-end features--namely, CD/DVD printing and some Web connectivity. A two-year warranty sweetens the deal.

The MFC-J825DW installed easily via Wi-Fi (USB and ethernet connections are also available), and it has a clearly designed interface. The front LCD is 3.3 inches wide diagonally--so small that you might not recognize it as a touchscreen. Though it's a tad cramped, it works; and it also offers access to some Web apps, including Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Docs, and Picasa. The straightforward control panel has a keypad for faxing and labeled buttons for the main fax, scan, copy, and photo functions. The photo functions are for snapshots loaded via the unit's SD and MMC media card slot or PictBridge port. The on-screen printer driver is easy to navigate, and PaperPort 12 is included for organizing scanned documents.

The MFC-J825DW's ability to print to CD/DVD is a nice perk. Simply remove the caddy handily stored within the scanner lid, load it with printable discs (regular 120mm size only, not 80mm minis), and feed the caddy into a special slot in the printer's front input area. Regular paper handling is adequate for a low-volume home or small office, thanks to a 100-sheet input tray, a dedicated 20-sheet photo tray, and a 20-sheet automatic document feeder for the letter/A4 scanner. Duplexing is automatic for printing, but not for scanning. The unit scans from the control panel to a PC without a lot of configuration fuss. The like-priced Canon Pixma MG5320 offers CD/DVD printing and better paper capacity.

In our testing, the MFC-J825DW printed text pages at a rate nearly 10 pages per minute on a Mac, and at 9 ppm on a PC. For printing snapshot-size photos on plain paper, the MFP clocked in at 4.6 ppm, but when we switched to Brother's own photo paper, the print time slowed to less than 1.2 ppm. A letter-size, high-resolution color photo took nearly 1 minute, 52 seconds to print on a Mac. Scans came out quickly, at between 20 and 35 seconds for snapshot and letter-size photos.

Overall, the quality of the MFC-J825DW's prints was good. Text looked dark and crisp in most fonts. Photos printed on Brother's own glossy stock looked quite nice as well, though the color palette was a little on the light side. On plain paper, the same photos appeared faded and grainy. Scan quality was one of the few disappointments--orangey and a bit cartoonish, with harsh shadows.

Brother's prices for replacement ink cartridges for the MFC-J825DW are about average. The 300-page, standard-size cartridges include a $15 black (which works out to a slightly high 5 cents per page) and $10 cyan, magenta, and yellow (3.3 cents per color per page). The 600-page, high-yield cartridges are a $25 black (4.2 cents per page) and $15 cyan, magenta, and yellow (2.5 cents per color per page). A page with all four colors would cost an unexceptional 14.7 cents with the standard-size cartridges, and an economical 11.7 cents with the high-yield cartridges.

An inkjet multifunction printer bedecked with a few advanced features, the MFC-J825DW is a worthy contender for your low-volume, small-office bucks. The Kodak ESP Office 2170 offers cheaper inks, but it's much slower and lacks automatic duplexing.

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Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw Review: Low-Priced, With Limited Features

The small-office-oriented Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw color laser multifunction printer looks expensive, but it’s available for just $450 (as of November 9, 2011). After a couple of hours of enduring its lack of automatic duplexing, sluggish speed, and other drawbacks, however, you'll understand why it's so inexpensive. And your first trip to the store for consumables will provide another moment of realization: The MF8080Cw's toner is hardly bargain-priced.

The ImageClass MF8080Cw's paper-handling features consist of a 150-sheet input tray, a 125-sheet output tray; a 50-sheet ADF, and a manual feed slot. These components are adequate for a small workgroup as long as users don't want to scan or print in duplex. Though you can't do anything about the lack of duplex scanning, manual duplex printing is available--you just need to find it. By default, it's disabled; and to enable it, you have to visit a rather obscure location in the control-panel menus: Adjustment/Maintenance/Special Processing/Special Paper Processing.

The MF8080Cw has some nice features--and a host of rough edges. Though the secure printing is nice, the labyrinthine process for enable manual duplexing is a head-scratcher. The five-line monochrome LCD display is fine, but the buttons could be better delineated (with larger text, better icons, and more of them). The printer driver is as terse and technical as they come--and everything is done just a bit differently or is located in a slightly unexpected place. In my hands-on evaluation, the Windows driver didn't provide a list of paper types, but the Mac driver did; I could select the type of paper to use only at the printer itself.

Setup via ethernet and USB worked fine, and the MF8080Cw's HTML configuration pages are well-rendered and logically laid out. Matters got a little dicier when we tried the wireless installation. First, you must power-cycle the MF8080Cw if you want to switch from ethernet to Wi-Fi, or vice versa. Also, you can't connect both ethernet and Wi-Fi on the printer simultaneously.

More perplexingly, the MF8080Cw initially appeared incapable of detecting any of the Wi-Fi networks in our area. Apparently, the machine was overwhelmed by the 20+ Wi-Fi networks detectable in our wireless-saturated building. In locations with fewer networks, it list all of them without a hitch. This problem arose only when we used manual setup and searching for SSIDs, not when we tested it via WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), which the unit also supports. Canon quickly provided a firmware update that partly corrected the detection problem; however, the MFP still detected only the 10 strongest network signals in the area. If you can't find your network on that list, you can enter your network’s SSID manually via the control panel.

For a workgroup laser printer, the MF8080Cw prints slowly, primarily because of a tediously long wait for the first page of any document. Once the unit gets going, subsequent pages appear far more quickly. On-board memory is only 128MB, which might have something to do with the slow initial pages. Plain-text pages and pages with a mix of text and graphics printed at 7.2 pages per minute on the PC and 7.4 ppm on the Mac. A snapshot-size photo printed on the PC emerged in about 30 seconds (2 ppm) on either plain (Hammermill LaserPrint), or photo (Hammermill Color Laser Gloss) paper. Full-page photos printed on the Mac took about 38 seconds, which works out to 1.6 ppm. Both preview and full scan times were quite fast--less than 20 seconds for a full scan.

Generally, the print quality of the MF8080Cw was quite good. Text looked sharp, though it introduced a distinctly pink cast to monochrome graphics. The pinkness turned unacceptably purple in a grayscale version of a full-page color photo. Color photos seemed a tad grainy, but they had a lively and warm palette. In our group photo of PCWorld employees, however, everyone appear to be sporting a spray-on tan. Line-art scans suffered more distortion than we usually see.

The MF8080Cw's toner costs disappointed us; and since the unit ships with 800-page "starter" cartridges, you'll have to replace them rather quickly. Toner is easy to change via a slide-out tray that comes into view when you fold down the front panel. Replacement cartridges start with an $80 black cartridge that lasts 2300 pages, for a per page cost of about 3.5 cents. The $75 cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges last for 1500 pages, or 5 cents per color per page. All told, a four-color page costs about 17.5 cents to print--a more expensive average than most inkjets offer.

If you don't print a lot, the cheaper-printer-more-expensive-toner can work in your favor, but that rarely is the case with a workgroup printer--and it doesn't square with the MF8080Cw's 30,000-page monthly duty cycle. The warranty is for just one year, though the unit seems sturdily built and we had no trouble with the paper path.

The Canon ImageClass MF8080Cw's lack of automatic duplexing, its pricey toner, its weak grayscale graphics, and its frustratingly long delay in producing the first page of any print job are good reasons to check the competition for a better deal. But most MFPs in this price range aren't clearly better: The Dell 1355cnw is faster but has much more expensive toner, while the HP Laserjet Pro CM1415fnw is a little slower and its consumables are a little costlier. We recommend spending a little more and getting a better deal, such as with Canon's similar-looking ImageClass MF8380Cdw, which is faster, produces better-looking output, and offers a better price on toner.

View the original article here

Samsung CLP-775DN review: A Midpriced Workhorse Color Laser

Samsung's CLP-775ND color laser printer has power to spare for a busy workgroup, at a midrange price of $750 (as of September 21, 2011). It breaks no new ground in output quality--photos are a challenge for it, as they are for most color lasers; but aside from that, it's a printer well worth considering.

The CL-775DN can connect by USB or ethernet. Setup is easy on both PCs and Macs. The printer's driver and control panel are intuitively designed, the latter consisting of a four-line monochrome LCD and a straightforward array of navigation and selection buttons.

The CLP-775ND is ready for high-volume use. Standard features including automatic duplexing; a 500-sheet main input tray and 100-sheet multipurpose tray, accessible via a front panel; and a 350-sheet output tray. You may add tone or two bottom-mounted, 500-sheet feeder trays (CLP-S775A, for $200 each), if you need more. Overall, the unit is quite sturdily constructed. One of our few concerns with regard to the design involves the transfer belt, which is fully exposed when you open the printer's front panel to reach the toner cartridges. If you're not extremely careful, you might easily drop a cartridge on it.

Speed is a good reason to buy a CLP-775ND. Equipped with a 600MHz dual-core processor and 384MB of memory (expandable to 896MB), it printed text pages at a swift rate of 18.1 pages per minute on the PC and 17.5 ppm on the Mac--a good 3 to 4 ppm faster than the average rate posted by other printers in its class. Snapshot-size photos printed at 3.9 ppm, well above the average. The full-page, high-resolution photo we print on the Mac clocked in at 1.8 ppm, one of the fastest times we've recorded. The CLP-775ND's speed printing a PDF document with a mix of text and graphics was a middling 4.5 ppm.

While the CLP-775ND's speed stands out, its output is more pedestrian. Text looks very good, but monochrome graphics slightly less so. Color images have an orange tinge and a noticeably grainy background. The color controls available through the driver help improve the results. Among competing color lasers, the Dell 3130cn is a little slower, but less expensive and better at printing photos.

Economical toner is a highlight of the CLP-775ND. It ships with 3500-page starter cartridges. The sole replacement cartridge size has a 7000-page yield and costs $125 for black, and $182 apiece for cyan, magenta, and yellow. That works out to 1.8 cents per page for black, and 2.6 cents per page for each color. A four-color page would cost a low 9.6 cents. After 50,000 pages, you'll need to replace the transfer belt ( $200), adding 0.4 cents per page to the price of the next 50,000 pages.

The CLP-775ND is a fast color laser that is economical both initially and over time. Larger, busier workgroups may gravitate toward faster and pricier models such as the Lexmark c734dn, but the CLP-775ND should satisfy a wide swath of more mainstream offices.

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Canon ImageClass MF8380Cdw Review: Small-Office Contender Despite Slow Printing

At $600 (as of November 9, 2011), the Canon ImageClass MF8380Cdw costs $150 more than its cousin, the ImageClass MF8080Cw, but is an infinitely better product. It's faster, it costs less to operate, and it produces better output. It also offers automatic duplexing to save on paper costs, and it's set to duplex by default--a first in my book, and major green kudos to Canon for that. On top of everything else, it's a very competitive workgroup color laser multifunction printer (copy/print/scan/fax) in its price range.

The MF8380Cdw's automatic duplexing capabilities include copying, scanning, and printing both sides of a document in one pass. The bottom-mounted paper cassette holds 250 sheets (100 more than the MF8080CW's maximum), and the ADF holds 50 sheets. There is no slot for envelopes as with the MF8080CW; instead, the front folds down to reveal a 50-sheet multipurpose tray. The output tray holds a sizable 150 sheets.

The MF8380Cdw's control panel and printer driver lack the user-friendliness that typifies Canon's consumer-oriented machines. The software seems incomplete, too: For instance, the Mac printer driver contained a valid list of paper types, but the Windows printer driver did not. The organization and the placement of options in the driver are odd, too. On the other hand, the MF Toolbox utility for scanning and OCR is a model of efficiency and friendly design.

Setup via USB and ethernet connections is easy. Wireless, however, requires that you power-cycle the MF8380Cdw to switch from ethernet to Wi-Fi, or vice versa. Note, too, that you cannot have both ethernet and Wi-Fi connected on the printer simultaneously.

Then things went wonky: The MF8380Cdw initially appeared incapable of detecting any of the Wi-Fi networks in our area, perhaps overwhelmed by the number (more than 20) that are detectable in our building. In locations with fewer networks, it successfully listed all of them. We tested this feature using manual setup and searching for SSIDs, not using WPS (Wi-Fi-protected setup), which the unit also supports. Canon quickly provided a firmware update that partly fixed the earlier problem, though the MF8380Cdw still can detect only the 10 strongest network signals in the area. If yours isn't one of them, you can enter your network's SSID manually via the control panel.

The MF8380Cdw is slow for a workgroup laser MFP, due to a significant lag before the first page of documents shows up. Including the lag, text and mixed text and graphics printed at 11.1 pages per minute on the PC and 11.6 ppm on the Mac. A snapshot-sized photo took about 18.6 seconds (which works out to 3.2 ppm) to print on either plain, or photo glossy paper. Full-page photos printed on the Mac at a lively 2.4 ppm. Scans were impressively fast: 8.5 seconds for previews, and between 12 and 17.2 seconds for final scans.

The quality of prints produced by the MF8380Cdw was very good overall. Text looked extremely sharp, and monochrome graphics were truly black-and-white, with none of the pinkish cast that plagues the cheaper MF8080Cw. Color photos were just a bit grainy, but they had a lively and warm palette. Flesh tones had a decided bent toward orange, unfortunately.

The MF8380Cdw's toner costs are better than average, but only if you buy the black in Canon's dual-cartridge Value Pack. You can buy black, 3400-page replacement cartridges individually for $127 (or about 3.7 cents per page) or in a two-pack for $180 (which lowers the per-page cost to 2.6 cents). The 2900-page cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges are available only as individual units and cost $122 (or 4.2 cents per color per page). The overall price for a four-color page is 15.3 cents--reasonable, though not dirt-cheap. Note: The unit ships with 1200-page black and 1400-page color "starter" cartridges.

The Canon ImageClass MF8380CDW does just about everything well; and though its control panel and printer driver could be less clunky, this unit belongs on your small office's short list of color laser MFPs. For comparison, check out the Brother MFC-9560CDW and the Oki MC361.

View the original article here

Samsung CLP-775DN review: A Midpriced Workhorse Color Laser

Samsung's CLP-775ND color laser printer has power to spare for a busy workgroup, at a midrange price of $750 (as of September 21, 2011). It breaks no new ground in output quality--photos are a challenge for it, as they are for most color lasers; but aside from that, it's a printer well worth considering.

The CL-775DN can connect by USB or ethernet. Setup is easy on both PCs and Macs. The printer's driver and control panel are intuitively designed, the latter consisting of a four-line monochrome LCD and a straightforward array of navigation and selection buttons.

The CLP-775ND is ready for high-volume use. Standard features including automatic duplexing; a 500-sheet main input tray and 100-sheet multipurpose tray, accessible via a front panel; and a 350-sheet output tray. You may add tone or two bottom-mounted, 500-sheet feeder trays (CLP-S775A, for $200 each), if you need more. Overall, the unit is quite sturdily constructed. One of our few concerns with regard to the design involves the transfer belt, which is fully exposed when you open the printer's front panel to reach the toner cartridges. If you're not extremely careful, you might easily drop a cartridge on it.

Speed is a good reason to buy a CLP-775ND. Equipped with a 600MHz dual-core processor and 384MB of memory (expandable to 896MB), it printed text pages at a swift rate of 18.1 pages per minute on the PC and 17.5 ppm on the Mac--a good 3 to 4 ppm faster than the average rate posted by other printers in its class. Snapshot-size photos printed at 3.9 ppm, well above the average. The full-page, high-resolution photo we print on the Mac clocked in at 1.8 ppm, one of the fastest times we've recorded. The CLP-775ND's speed printing a PDF document with a mix of text and graphics was a middling 4.5 ppm.

While the CLP-775ND's speed stands out, its output is more pedestrian. Text looks very good, but monochrome graphics slightly less so. Color images have an orange tinge and a noticeably grainy background. The color controls available through the driver help improve the results. Among competing color lasers, the Dell 3130cn is a little slower, but less expensive and better at printing photos.

Economical toner is a highlight of the CLP-775ND. It ships with 3500-page starter cartridges. The sole replacement cartridge size has a 7000-page yield and costs $125 for black, and $182 apiece for cyan, magenta, and yellow. That works out to 1.8 cents per page for black, and 2.6 cents per page for each color. A four-color page would cost a low 9.6 cents. After 50,000 pages, you'll need to replace the transfer belt ( $200), adding 0.4 cents per page to the price of the next 50,000 pages.

The CLP-775ND is a fast color laser that is economical both initially and over time. Larger, busier workgroups may gravitate toward faster and pricier models such as the Lexmark c734dn, but the CLP-775ND should satisfy a wide swath of more mainstream offices.

View the original article here

Brother MFC-J825DW review: Midpriced MFP with CD/DVD printing

Brother's new $150 (as of September 27, 2011) MFC-J825DW color inkjet multifunction printer (print/scan/copy/fax) is a budget-friendly choice for your small or home office, enhanced by a few higher-end features--namely, CD/DVD printing and some Web connectivity. A two-year warranty sweetens the deal.

The MFC-J825DW installed easily via Wi-Fi (USB and ethernet connections are also available), and it has a clearly designed interface. The front LCD is 3.3 inches wide diagonally--so small that you might not recognize it as a touchscreen. Though it's a tad cramped, it works; and it also offers access to some Web apps, including Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Docs, and Picasa. The straightforward control panel has a keypad for faxing and labeled buttons for the main fax, scan, copy, and photo functions. The photo functions are for snapshots loaded via the unit's SD and MMC media card slot or PictBridge port. The on-screen printer driver is easy to navigate, and PaperPort 12 is included for organizing scanned documents.

The MFC-J825DW's ability to print to CD/DVD is a nice perk. Simply remove the caddy handily stored within the scanner lid, load it with printable discs (regular 120mm size only, not 80mm minis), and feed the caddy into a special slot in the printer's front input area. Regular paper handling is adequate for a low-volume home or small office, thanks to a 100-sheet input tray, a dedicated 20-sheet photo tray, and a 20-sheet automatic document feeder for the letter/A4 scanner. Duplexing is automatic for printing, but not for scanning. The unit scans from the control panel to a PC without a lot of configuration fuss. The like-priced Canon Pixma MG5320 offers CD/DVD printing and better paper capacity.

In our testing, the MFC-J825DW printed text pages at a rate nearly 10 pages per minute on a Mac, and at 9 ppm on a PC. For printing snapshot-size photos on plain paper, the MFP clocked in at 4.6 ppm, but when we switched to Brother's own photo paper, the print time slowed to less than 1.2 ppm. A letter-size, high-resolution color photo took nearly 1 minute, 52 seconds to print on a Mac. Scans came out quickly, at between 20 and 35 seconds for snapshot and letter-size photos.

Overall, the quality of the MFC-J825DW's prints was good. Text looked dark and crisp in most fonts. Photos printed on Brother's own glossy stock looked quite nice as well, though the color palette was a little on the light side. On plain paper, the same photos appeared faded and grainy. Scan quality was one of the few disappointments--orangey and a bit cartoonish, with harsh shadows.

Brother's prices for replacement ink cartridges for the MFC-J825DW are about average. The 300-page, standard-size cartridges include a $15 black (which works out to a slightly high 5 cents per page) and $10 cyan, magenta, and yellow (3.3 cents per color per page). The 600-page, high-yield cartridges are a $25 black (4.2 cents per page) and $15 cyan, magenta, and yellow (2.5 cents per color per page). A page with all four colors would cost an unexceptional 14.7 cents with the standard-size cartridges, and an economical 11.7 cents with the high-yield cartridges.

An inkjet multifunction printer bedecked with a few advanced features, the MFC-J825DW is a worthy contender for your low-volume, small-office bucks. The Kodak ESP Office 2170 offers cheaper inks, but it's much slower and lacks automatic duplexing.

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Samsung CLP-775DN review: A Midpriced Workhorse Color Laser

Samsung's CLP-775ND color laser printer has power to spare for a busy workgroup, at a midrange price of $750 (as of September 21, 2011). It breaks no new ground in output quality--photos are a challenge for it, as they are for most color lasers; but aside from that, it's a printer well worth considering.

The CL-775DN can connect by USB or ethernet. Setup is easy on both PCs and Macs. The printer's driver and control panel are intuitively designed, the latter consisting of a four-line monochrome LCD and a straightforward array of navigation and selection buttons.

The CLP-775ND is ready for high-volume use. Standard features including automatic duplexing; a 500-sheet main input tray and 100-sheet multipurpose tray, accessible via a front panel; and a 350-sheet output tray. You may add tone or two bottom-mounted, 500-sheet feeder trays (CLP-S775A, for $200 each), if you need more. Overall, the unit is quite sturdily constructed. One of our few concerns with regard to the design involves the transfer belt, which is fully exposed when you open the printer's front panel to reach the toner cartridges. If you're not extremely careful, you might easily drop a cartridge on it.

Speed is a good reason to buy a CLP-775ND. Equipped with a 600MHz dual-core processor and 384MB of memory (expandable to 896MB), it printed text pages at a swift rate of 18.1 pages per minute on the PC and 17.5 ppm on the Mac--a good 3 to 4 ppm faster than the average rate posted by other printers in its class. Snapshot-size photos printed at 3.9 ppm, well above the average. The full-page, high-resolution photo we print on the Mac clocked in at 1.8 ppm, one of the fastest times we've recorded. The CLP-775ND's speed printing a PDF document with a mix of text and graphics was a middling 4.5 ppm.

While the CLP-775ND's speed stands out, its output is more pedestrian. Text looks very good, but monochrome graphics slightly less so. Color images have an orange tinge and a noticeably grainy background. The color controls available through the driver help improve the results. Among competing color lasers, the Dell 3130cn is a little slower, but less expensive and better at printing photos.

Economical toner is a highlight of the CLP-775ND. It ships with 3500-page starter cartridges. The sole replacement cartridge size has a 7000-page yield and costs $125 for black, and $182 apiece for cyan, magenta, and yellow. That works out to 1.8 cents per page for black, and 2.6 cents per page for each color. A four-color page would cost a low 9.6 cents. After 50,000 pages, you'll need to replace the transfer belt ( $200), adding 0.4 cents per page to the price of the next 50,000 pages.

The CLP-775ND is a fast color laser that is economical both initially and over time. Larger, busier workgroups may gravitate toward faster and pricier models such as the Lexmark c734dn, but the CLP-775ND should satisfy a wide swath of more mainstream offices.

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