Brother MFC-L3780 CDW review: quick color

Brother MFC-L3780 CDW

MSRP $499.99

“Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW is huge and strong, for those who want it.”

Professionals

• Quick, dependable printing at 31 ppm
• Fast, high-resolution scanner
• Duplex printing and scanning
• Contains over 1,000 pages in toner
• Simple setup

Cons

• iPhone and iPad app is surprisingly gradual
• Picture-quality is not nice
• It is a heavy printer that requires a number of area

Brother is finest identified for its inexpensive printer line that provides nice worth for shoppers. The corporate additionally makes some extra feature-rich all-in-ones just like the one I’m reviewing right here: the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW coloration laser printer. It’s designed to satisfy the wants of small companies and busy house workplaces.

Earlier than you put money into a heavy-duty printer just like the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW, it’s essential know concerning the print high quality for coloration and monochrome, compatibility together with your laptop and telephone, and the long-term prices. We examined Brother’s all-in-one coloration laser to uncover these essential particulars in real-world utilization.

Design

Look isn’t probably the most important side of a enterprise printer, however you continue to need one thing that appears good. If you put a Brother MFC-L3780 CDW in your printer stand, it’s clear that you just’re prepared for critical work. It’s a high-profile, off-white workplace printer with grey accents, an computerized doc feeder (ADF) on prime, and a 3.5-inch coloration touchscreen extending from the flatbed scanner.

It’s a big, heavy printer weighing 47.8 kilos and standing 15.8 inches excessive. The footprint is 16.1 by 18.2 inches, which isn’t that huge, however Brother recommends leaving 6 inches of room on all sides, 8 inches on the again, and 12 inches of clearance above for cooling throughout a heavy workload. Including these figures up, you want fairly a little bit of empty area: 28 inches broad, 26.2 inches deep, and 27.8 inches tall.

A chunky printer is normally a sturdy printer, and the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW specs point out it could deal with a heavy-duty cycle. This small enterprise printer contains walk-up comfort with a USB thumb drive port and an NFC card reader for workplace safety and price management.

The detachable essential paper tray situated on the backside holds as much as 250 sheets, whereas the multipurpose tray above makes it simple to insert alternate sizes for single prints and may maintain 30 sheets. An elective decrease tray accent expands paper capability by an extra 250 sheets.

Printing efficiency

Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW is a sturdy all-in-one coloration laser printer that may deal with a heavy workload of 4,000 pages month-to-month with a most responsibility cycle of as much as 50,000 pages monthly. It’s clearly designed for small- to medium-sized companies.

Shade and monochrome prints look nice. Lengthy paperwork and a number of copies are accomplished rapidly, with print speeds of as much as 31 pages per minute.

After passing by way of the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW, the paper has a noticeable curl, whatever the thickness. I feared that might hinder duplex printing, however double-sided paperwork rolled forwards and backwards, printing on each side with no issue and delivering a clear doc with out losing paper.

Printing only a web page or two feels somewhat gradual, significantly when utilizing the cellular app. The primary web page takes about 13 seconds as soon as knowledge is distributed. From Home windows and Mac, that slight delay isn’t an issue.

Nevertheless, when utilizing the Brother Cell Join app with my iPhone, it generally took as lengthy to ship a single web page to the printer because it did to print, regardless of my quick Wi-Fi connection. Android efficiency was higher. I additionally discovered that utilizing AirPrint as a substitute of Brother’s app eradicated the delay. Total, the printer appeared fast regardless of a number of points.

Even one of the best coloration laser printers battle to match the print high quality of an inkjet. The Brother MFC-L3780 CDW isn’t any exception. Its picture print high quality on plain paper is okay for a laser printer, however colours are muted and grainy, struggling probably the most with pink hues that have a tendency towards orange and yellow tones.

The outcomes are barely higher on matte picture paper, however the HP Shade LaserJet Professional 4301fdw presents higher image high quality in a coloration laser. There’s no borderless possibility, which isn’t shocking for a business-oriented laser printer.

In fact, one of the best picture printers use inkjet expertise for extra vibrant colours than a laser printer can output. Some fashions, like Epson’s EcoTank ET-8500, embody a six-color ink system for a wider dynamic vary.

Particular options

The Brother MFC-L3780 CDW is an all-in-one coloration laser printer constructed for enterprise use. It features a flatbed scanner and a well-built ADF that may scan single and double-sided paperwork as much as 50 pages in size. Stroll-up use is straightforward with its built-in USB thumb drive port situated on the entrance panel. The massive coloration touchscreen and well-designed menu system simplifies printing, scanning, faxing, and copying.

The Brother iPrint&Scan software program for computer systems gives as much as 1200 dots-per-inch (DPI) scanning decision, which is as excessive as some devoted scanners. The app can apply optical character recognition to the scanned bitmap to save lots of a searchable PDF, a handy option to archive paperwork on a pc whereas maintaining the content material accessible.

Brother’s cellular app limits the utmost scan decision to 300 dpi, whereas scanning to a thumb drive permits as much as 600 dpi. I usually see this arbitrary limitation from all producers, but it surely varies from mannequin to mannequin. For instance, Brother’s DCPL2550DW, a monochrome laser printer, helps 600 DPI from the cellular app.

Scans have good coloration and dynamic vary. The scanning {hardware} can be fairly quick, and copies are accomplished simply as rapidly as prints. Duplex copying works with no points and contains an choice to scan single-sided paperwork and output double-sided to save lots of paper.

I don’t have a necessity or a option to check the NFC badge reader, however this could possibly be a precious characteristic for giant workplaces to limit utilization to licensed personnel. The price of coloration toner can add up in a rush with a quick laser printer just like the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW.

Software program and compatibility

Set up was easy with the short begin information. The toner is saved contained in the machine and should be eliminated and changed after uncapping the ends. That solely took a second, and color-coding guided me by way of the method.

After powering on, the touchscreen shows a QR code to obtain the cellular app. The cellular app simplifies connecting to Wi-Fi, and the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW helps each 5 GHz and a pair of.4 GHz. The printer was arrange and able to go inside about 5 minutes.

Connecting to a Home windows or Mac laptop over Wi-Fi is straightforward, and you need to use an Ethernet or USB cable for those who favor. Wi-Fi speeds are typically quick sufficient {that a} wired connection solely helps when your Wi-Fi sign isn’t robust sufficient on the printer.

Utilizing the printer from a pc is easy. Home windows and macOS determine the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW immediately, and also you solely have to obtain the iPrint&Scan app if it’s essential scan to your laptop on the most 1200 DPI decision.

The cellular app works effectively with an Android telephone however is much less dependable for iPhone customers. To realize one of the best picture outcomes, I attempted printing footage from the Brother Cell Join app, which was fairly sluggish. After deciding on a photograph, my iPhone confirmed a gray background as a substitute of the image within the print preview. I canceled and tried once more, ready about seven seconds earlier than a preview of the image appeared.

As I discussed above, sending a photograph to the printer from the app can be very gradual. Brother must replace the iPhone app to be extra responsive. Within the meantime, it’s finest to print instantly from Apple’s Images app.

Priced for enterprise

Brother designed the MFC-L3780 CDW coloration laser printer for small to medium-sized companies. Whereas the $500 price ticket makes it a stretch for house workplaces, the preliminary funding is small if it serves as a shared printer in a busy workplace. What’s extra essential are the long-term prices of toner and the product’s sturdiness.

The Brother MFC-L3780 CDW is an enormous, heavy printer that feels sturdy. I printed freely however barely scratched the 50,000-page most month-to-month responsibility cycle, however I think this printer is constructed to final.

Brother presents three sizes of toner, with the most important providing one of the best worth. The MFC-L3780 CDW ships with standard-size cartridges that present 1,200 coloration pages and 1,500 in black and white.

Shade pages are costly, with common prices of 10, 13, or 17 cents per web page, relying on whether or not you order the usual, giant, or further giant capability. Printing monochrome paperwork is rather more inexpensive since black toner cartridges common 2, 3, or 4 cents per web page.

Is that this the printer for you?

Some printers which can be designed for companies additionally work effectively within the house. Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW coloration laser printer is extra definitively designed for a heavy workload. Shade laser printers usually are not the best choice for those who prefer to print footage. You may like HP’s OfficeJet Professional 9015, a quick inkjet with good picture high quality.

Nevertheless, the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW prints coloration paperwork simply as quick as monochrome and is nice for brochures, shows, and flyers. A busy workplace will make good use of this printer.

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