Brother MFC-7840W review

Brother's MFC-7840W is a wireless mono laser multifunction peripheral (MFP) with fax, copier and scanner functions.

It's aimed squarely at small and home office users and is particularly compact for an MFP. This has its disadvantages, though. To get at the output tray, you have to lift the upper part of the printer, which houses the control panel and scanner. A4 sheets protrude far enough to be extracted without doing this, but it could become tiresome if you often print on smaller paper sizes.

Unlike many wireless printers, the MFC-7840W's network settings can be configured without you first having to connect it by USB or Ethernet. The easiest way is to use the printer's built-in mono LCD screen and menu system to scan for and select your network.

Document prints were clear and sharp. Black text was well defined, if not as dark as text from the best mono lasers in our recent group test. Even tiny text was legible and greyscale prints of graphs, magazine pages and presentation graphics were accurately shaded. Some areas in our photo prints had an odd dithering pattern, but it wasn't too noticeable. The enhanced resolution of 2,400x600dpi improved the reproduction of small fonts and fine detail. Copy quality was also good. The default settings were too dark for most full-colour documents, but were easy to change.

Scanning over a network was slow. Even a 150dpi A4 scan took one minute and 19 seconds, so we opted to test the scanner over a USB connection, which meant reinstalling all the drivers and software. Scan speeds weren't fast over USB either, but were quicker at 16 seconds for a 150dpi A4 scan and 41 seconds for a 600dpi 6x4in photo. The interface was easy to use but short on options.

Most mono laser printers use an optical photoconductor (OPC) drum that you replace with the toner cartridge. Brother's current mono lasers have separate replaceable drums that last for around 12,000 pages, which reduces the price of toner but adds to the total cost of ownership.

At 1.5p per page, prints are cheaper than those of many laser MFPs, including every model in last month's group test. The MFC-7840W was also more economical for heavy use, with a total cost of £2,346 for 108,000 pages over three years, but its high purchase price makes it pricier for light and medium use.

At £310, this MFP costs more than non-wireless devices with similar specifications, such as Canon's USB i-Sensys MF4010. It's a good choice for a compact wireless laser MFP, but there are cheaper models if you don't need wireless networking.

Author: Kat Orphanides