Brother MFC-L3720CDW
MSRP $399.99
“The Brother MFC-L3720CDW is sturdy and inexpensive colour laser printer, nevertheless it lacks some vital options.”
Execs
- Low value for a colour laser printer
- Fast, high-resolution scanner
- Contains over 1,000 pages value of toner
- Straightforward setup
Cons
- Lacks duplex scanning
- Photograph-quality is simply OK
- It is a heavy printer that requires numerous house
Should you’re purchasing for an inexpensive all-in-one printer, the Brother MFC-L3720CDW would possibly catch your eye. Brother is a well-known identify and makes among the greatest colour laser printers that provide the reliability and refinement that small companies depend upon.
With its built-in automated doc feeder (ADF) and fax functionality, the MFC-L3720CDW might clear up many residence workplace wants, saving a visit to the native workplace retailer. I went hands-on to test the pace and print high quality, examined the copy and scan options, and researched the long-term value of toner that will help you determine if that is the correct printer for you.
Design
The MFC-L3720CDW is a giant, sturdy all-in-one colour laser printer with print, scan, copy, and fax capabilities. It has a footprint of 17.5 inches by 16.1 inches and a peak of 15.8 inches. The 44-pound weight means you need to plan the place to place this printer earlier than lifting it onto your desk or stand.
Brother’s off-white and medium grey colour scheme will mix in with any decor. The three.5-inch colour touchscreen is fastened at 7 levels from horizontal so I needed to stand to learn the show.
The principle paper tray holds 250 sheets and a handbook feed tray lets me print single sheets, which is a pleasant choice for labels and envelopes. The ADF accepts as much as 50 pages at a time.
Whereas most Brother laser printers embody three varieties of connectivity, the MFC-L3720CDW helps dual-band Wi-Fi and USB-B, however lacks an Ethernet port. Nonetheless, it does have ports for fax in and telephone out, so you may join an answering machine with no separate line.
Printing efficiency
The Brother MFC-L3720CDW outputs crisp black-and-white textual content, even for nice print. Shade paperwork additionally look good, with no banding or gaps in colour blocks.
Photograph print high quality is sweet, however a bit undersaturated and boring. If I oversaturated the image on my telephone, the MFC-L3720CDW might create a richer photograph. That suggests it is a software program difficulty that Brother might repair in a future replace.
A colour laser printer is sort of all the time sooner than an inkjet for lengthy paperwork. Brother’s MFC-L3720CDW manages 19 pages per minute (ppm) for monochrome and colour paperwork, which is double or triple the output of some inkjet printers.
Nonetheless, HP’s speedy OfficeJet Professional 9125e rolls by means of 22 ppm in black and 18 ppm in colour, making the MFC-L3720CDW the slowest colour laser printer I’ve ever reviewed.
One other vital pace check is how lengthy it takes to print the primary web page. Brother reduce corners a bit right here as effectively. The MFC-L3720CDW takes 15 seconds for the primary web page out (FPO). By comparability, Canon’s well-rated imageClass MF654cdw cuts that by a 3rd with a 10-second FPO.
Particular options
For an workplace, copy and fax could be important. The Brother MFC-L3720CDW contains quick ADF and flatbed scanners to deal with these wants. The scanner is quicker than the printer, so there’s no delay when making a replica. It matches the 19 ppm print pace.
Whereas the printer helps duplex, the ADF can’t scan either side of a web page. If I need to copy a double-sided doc, I’m pressured to make use of the flatbed scanner and manually flip every web page, which is a laborious activity.
The ADF scans at a most of 600 dots per inch (dpi), which is ok for many conditions. For a extra detailed scan of {a photograph} or nice print, I selected the 1200 dpi flatbed scanner. To this point, most printer producers restrict cellular scanning to 300 dpi.
Printers like Epson’s EcoTank 2800 permit as much as 600 dpi scanning. Nonetheless, that’s half the decision accessible when connecting to a pc. I don’t like arbitrary limitations of in any other case good {hardware}.
Software program and compatibility
As a number one printer producer, Brother makes setup easy. The toner cartridges are saved contained in the printer, however are capped for transport. It solely takes just a few seconds to uncap and change the 4 cartridges. Like most trendy printers, the MFC-L3720CDW checks for brand new firmware and might set up updates with out connecting to a pc.
I related the MFC-L3720CDW to Wi-Fi utilizing the Brother Join cellular app and was able to print in only a few minutes. Home windows and Mac computer systems acknowledge Brother printers simply and routinely set up drivers as wanted. For the highest quality and most choices for scanning, I downloaded Brother’s desktop iPrint&Scan app.
Value
Brother expenses $400 for the MFC-L3720CDW, a pleasant value for small companies that want a sturdy colour laser printer. It’s additionally inexpensive sufficient for residence workplaces. The higher concern is how rapidly toner prices will accumulate.
The MFC-L3720CDW ships with starter cartridges that may print as much as 1,000 black and 1,000 colour pages. Should you print usually or in excessive quantity, you’ll need to order extra toner quickly.
Excessive-yield cartridges provide probably the most worth. The MFC-L3720CDW can print monochrome pages with a mean value of three to 4 cents per web page. Shade prices will add up rapidly at 13 to 17 cents per web page.
If you would like colour laser printer pace at a extra inexpensive value per web page, Brother’s MFC-L3780CDW is quicker and accepts XXL cartridges to scale back printing prices to 2 cents for black and 10 cents for colour pages.
Is that this the printer for you?
Brother’s MFC-L3720CDW is designed for workplaces and is rated to print as much as 40,000 pages per thirty days with a sustained quantity of three,000 pages. Brother contains safety features and cloud connectivity which may enchantment to small companies.
Sadly, the options are limiting, missing Ethernet and duplex copying. For the reason that most economical cartridges received’t match, the MFC-L3720CDW has worse long-term worth than different Brother printers.
Brother’s MFC-L3720CDW faces stiff competitors from higher printers just like the Canon imageClass MF654cdw. Even the HP OfficeJet Professional 9125e, a business-oriented inkjet printer, is as quick as Brother’s funds laser printe,r with a decrease preliminary value and extra economical value per web page for ink.
Should you just like the look of the MFC-L3720CDW, however desire a sooner printer with extra options, Brother’s MFC-L3780CDW solely prices $100 extra, comes with extra toner, and accepts the biggest XXL cartridges.
