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Brother DCP-7030 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £113
inc VAT

Specifications

mono laser, 22ppm print speed, USB, 257x428x396mm

http://www.printerbase.co.uk

Brother’s DCP-7030 is a compact mono laser MFP that wouldn’t look out of place in any home or small office.

Costing just £79, it’s the cheapest mono laser printer here and, although it lacks an ADF and fax capabilities, is ideal for everyday copying and printing tasks.

The DCP-7030 only has a USB connection, which means that you’ll have to configure your PC to share it or buy a router with printer support if you want to use it over a network. The driver suite includes Paperport 11SE document management software, but if you would rather use a different package or you don’t require document management, the installation disc includes a version of the suite without Paperport.

The printer has a native resolution of 600x600dpi but is capable of an effective resolution of 1,200x600dpi with software enhancement. This proved particularly helpful on our test photographs, which had sharper lines, smoother shading and much less visible dithering in HQ 1200 mode. A set of three pages of images took 22 seconds to print at this enhanced quality, compared to 17 seconds at the printer’s native 600dpi resolution.

We were impressed by the speed and quality of the DCP-7030’s greyscale document prints, which emerged at a phenomenal 19.2ppm. Although there was some blocky dithering in places, prints looked great, with an excellent range of shades and smooth curves. Standard text printed at a swift 20.3ppm and the first page emerged in just 11 seconds. Scan quality is limited by the 600×2,400dpi maximum optical resolution, but scans were sharp and accurately coloured.

Toner costs of just 1.5p per mono page are also excellent, and total ownership costs were also surprisingly low, despite the cost of replacing the separate drum unit.

The DCP-7030 doesn’t have loads of features but is great value if you’re after a good-quality compact MFP at a low price. It’s an ideal personal printer for a light to medium workload, which makes it our Budget Buy.

Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Maximum native print resolution 600x600dpi
Max optical resolution 600×2,400dpi
Output bit depth 24-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4 22ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two greyscale 10x8in photos 1.1 18s
Time for six greyscale 6x4in photos 1.0 22s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfaces USB
Optional printer interfaces none
Size 257x428x396mm
Weight 9.9kg
Noise (in normal use) 51dB(A)
Power consumption standby 5W
Power consumption idle 6W
Power consumption active 877W

Paper Handling

Maximum paper size A4/legal
Maximum paper weight 163gsm
Standard paper inputs 1
Standard paper input capacity 250
Maximum paper inputs 1
Maximum paper input capacity 250
Duplex (code, cost if option) No

General

Printer technology mono laser
Language(s) host-based
Supported operating systems Windows 2000/XP/XP-64/Vista/Vista-64, Mac OS X 10.2.5+, Linux
Maximum printer memory 16MB
Other laser features and options print from USB, scan to USB, three year onsite warranty extension ZWPS0110, £30

Buying Information

Price £113
Consumable parts and prices 1,500 page black TN-2110, £33, 2,600 page black TN-2120, £47, 12,000 page drum DR-2100, £56
Price per mono A4 page 1.80p
Price of 2nd paper cassette N/A
Warranty one year onsite
Supplier http://www.printerbase.co.uk
Details www.brother.co.uk

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview 16s
A4 document at 150dpi 17s
A4 document at 300dpi 36s
6x4in photo at 600dpi 36s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi N/A

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0 12s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0 N/A

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies 99
Max mono copy resolution 600x600dpi

Fax Features

Max mono fax resolution N/A
Fax memory (maximum mono pages) N/A