Sunday, May 5, 2013
Brother MFC 7420
It is a light duty printer, having a duty cycle of around 10000 copies per month, so isn’t suitable for heavy users. It will fit right in to a small office or workgroup who need the flexibility for those times when they do need to print, scan, copy or fax.
Faxing is simple with the easy to use interface, clear keys and bright LCD display. There are speed dials, phone memories, enough built in memory to record up to 500 pages of fax, and a dual action feature which allows faxes to be loaded while the fax is transmitting or receiving. Transmission rate is one page every 4 seconds, and built in error correction prevents the need for retransmissions.
Printing and copying are just as simple. The print quality is as sharp as you would expect from a laser device. The blacks are black and grayscale is a good representation of an original color image. For printing the standard business document the MFC-7420 is peerless. It produces good quality prints at a rate of 20 pages per minute at a resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi.
Paper is handled by either a 250 sheet paper tray or a 35 sheet automatic document feeder. Both work well, move slickly and don’t jam. Toner is supplied as a starter cartridge which is good for 1500 sheets. The standard ones will last a good 2500 and are priced around $30 which is good value for money. Every 12000 sheets or so you will need to replace the drum which will set you back around $58.
Scanning is straightforward, as scanning generally is. There is the glass flatbed, or the automatic document feeder. You can scan onto file, pdf or email.
Connection is via USB or parallel port, both are easy to install and set up. USB was a breeze on a Windows XP computer, being picked up and installed within a couple of minutes.
Cheap to buy, with respectable running costs thanks to the cheap consumables. Well recommended for the small office or workgroup.
