Brother MFC-L3780 CDW evaluation: fast coloration

Brother MFC-L3780 CDW

MSRP $499.99

“Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW is large and sturdy, 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
• Straightforward setup

Cons

• iPhone and iPad app is surprisingly sluggish
• Photograph-quality is not nice
• It is a heavy printer that requires a lot of house

Brother is greatest identified for its reasonably priced printer line that provides nice worth for customers. 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 fulfill the wants of small companies and busy dwelling workplaces.

Earlier than you put money into a heavy-duty printer just like the Brother MFC-L3780 CDW, you should know concerning the print high quality for coloration and monochrome, compatibility along 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 essentially the most important side of a enterprise printer, however you continue to need one thing that appears good. Whenever 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 large, however Brother recommends leaving 6 inches of room on both 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 house: 28 inches broad, 26.2 inches deep, and 27.8 inches tall.

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

The detachable foremost paper tray situated on the backside holds as much as 250 sheets, whereas the multipurpose tray above makes it straightforward to insert alternate sizes for single prints and might maintain 30 sheets. An non-obligatory decrease tray accent expands paper capability by a further 250 sheets.

Printing efficiency

Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW is a strong 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 shortly, with print speeds of as much as 31 pages per minute.

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

Printing only a web page or two feels a bit sluggish, 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 typically 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 an alternative of Brother’s app eradicated the delay. Total, the printer appeared fast regardless of a couple of points.

Even one of the best coloration laser printers wrestle to match the print high quality of an inkjet. The Brother MFC-L3780 CDW is not any exception. Its picture print high quality on plain paper is okay for a laser printer, however colours are muted and grainy, struggling essentially the most with crimson 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 provides higher image high quality in a coloration laser. There’s no borderless possibility, which isn’t shocking for a business-oriented laser printer.

After all, 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 simple 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 technique to archive paperwork on a pc whereas protecting 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, nevertheless it 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 also be fairly quick, and copies are accomplished simply as shortly as prints. Duplex copying works with no points and consists of an choice to scan single-sided paperwork and output double-sided to save lots of paper.

I don’t have a necessity or a technique to take a look at the NFC badge reader, however this could possibly be a beneficial 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 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 simple, and you should use an Ethernet or USB cable if you happen to choose. Wi-Fi speeds are typically quick sufficient {that a} wired connection solely helps when your Wi-Fi sign isn’t sturdy 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 you should scan to your laptop on the most 1200 DPI decision.

The cellular app works properly with an Android telephone however is much less dependable for iPhone customers. To attain one of the best picture outcomes, I attempted printing photos from the Brother Cell Join app, which was fairly sluggish. After deciding on a photograph, my iPhone confirmed a gray background as an alternative 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 also be very sluggish. Brother must replace the iPhone app to be extra responsive. Within the meantime, it’s greatest to print straight 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 dwelling 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 believe this printer is constructed to final.

Brother provides three sizes of toner, with the biggest 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 additional giant capability. Printing monochrome paperwork is far more reasonably priced since black toner cartridges common 2, 3, or 4 cents per web page.

Is that this the printer for you?

Some printers which might be designed for companies additionally work properly within the dwelling. Brother’s MFC-L3780 CDW coloration laser printer is extra definitively designed for a heavy workload. Shade laser printers will not be your only option if you happen to prefer to print photos. You would possibly 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, displays, and flyers. A busy workplace will make good use of this printer.

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