Brother MFC-J4535DW review: a nice printer with a major flaw
Brother MFC-J4535DW INKvestment Tank printer
MSRP $249.99
“Brother’s MFC-J4535DW is a surprisingly good plain paper photograph printer, however the copy and scan high quality wreck an in any other case nice design.”
Professionals
- Spectacular plain paper photograph high quality
- Quick doc print pace
- Two 200-sheet paper trays and a media tray
- Compact dimension
Cons
- Poor ADF scan and duplicate high quality
- Poor flatbed scan and duplicate high quality
- 4×6 photographs are washed-out
Brother’s MFC-J4535DW is a house workplace printer with print, scan, copy, and fax capabilities. This all-in-one inkjet comes with a 12 months’s provide of ink, and Brother calls it an INKvestment tank printer.
The MFC-J4535DW is a novel printer in some ways, and you’ll inform simply by taking a look at it that Brother rethought its printer design right here. The query is whether or not the variations add as much as a greater expertise whereas retaining good high quality, reliability, and long-term worth, that are key traits of all the very best printers.
Design
The Brother MFC-J4535DW is a surprisingly quick printer for an all-in-one with an computerized doc feeder (ADF) and three paper trays. The peak is underneath 10 inches and it takes up 17 x 14.6 inches in your desk or stand. With the rear media tray and the entrance output bin open, you’ll want 24 inches of depth. It’s straightforward to maneuver the MFC-J4535DW round because of its 21-pound weight.
The design is a pleasant darkish grey on off-white, with a four-position management panel that includes a 2.7-inch coloration touchscreen. Two 200-sheet paper trays are totally detachable, permitting straightforward printing on two forms of paper or 4×6 photograph inventory. The rear paper tray gives a straight path for envelopes and thicker paper.
A USB-A port close to the left edge lets the Brother MFC-J4535DW print from or scan to a thumb drive for straightforward walk-up use. The cellphone line ports for facsimiles are on the left aspect and the hooked up energy wire cis on the left as nicely.
The USB-B and Ethernet ports for a wired connection to a pc are positioned contained in the printer, with channels to direct the cables out the again. It’s an uncommon design choice meaning you may want longer cables to succeed in your pc. That received’t matter should you join through Wi-Fi as I did.
Printing efficiency
Brother gave the MFC-J4535DW a quick print engine. Black-and-white paperwork print at a speedy 20 pages per minute (ppm) and coloration pages are almost as fast at 19 ppm. That’s as quick as some laser printers, however with the added capabilities of an inkjet printer. Shade paperwork got here out so properly that I made a decision to attempt plain paper photographs.
The standard was outstanding. Whereas saturation was a bit too excessive and element was decrease than a devoted photograph printer just like the Epson EcoTank ET-8500, the Brother MFC-J4535DW can print nice-looking footage on plain paper.
Shifting on to shiny paper, I used to be shocked to seek out the standard dropped. I attempted two several types of 4×6 shiny photograph inventory in case one was incompatible, however the saturation was muted on high-quality photograph paper. Shade accuracy is sweet however a bit washed-out and low distinction.
You need to use thick paper within the paper tray, but it surely had a little bit of a curl after passing by means of the printer. For those who place heavier-weight paper within the rear media tray, it comes out flat.
The three paper trays made testing fast. I may swap between photograph and plain paper simply and feed a specialty paper within the again with out reloading the 2 major trays.
Particular options
With an all-in-one printer, it’s best to be capable to deal with all your online business wants with out a journey to the native workplace retailer. Sadly, I wouldn’t depend on the Brother MFC-J4535DW for scans or copies. Epson’s EcoTank ET-2800 is priced equally and has good scan high quality.
I used to be ready to provide this printer an eight or 9 out of 10, however the scans are a bit blurry, and that exhibits up when making copies. Half of the performance of the MFC-J4535DW is misplaced as a result of a poor scanner. There’s an opportunity I bought a lemon, however I discovered Amazon critiques commenting on the poor copy high quality as nicely.
The ADF doesn’t assist duplex scanning, however duplex printing works reliably. The ADF is considerably slower than the printer, so copy pace is sluggish. The flatbed scanner can also be sluggish and yields barely fuzzy outcomes.
The USB-A port works nicely for fast photograph prints from a thumb drive with out the necessity for a cellphone. That is extra necessary for an workplace surroundings, however nonetheless a pleasant addition.
Software program and compatibility
Putting in the MFC-J4535DW is fast and Brother made the method easy with some time-saving options. The 4 giant ink cartridges slide in with a reassuring click on and it solely takes 4 minutes to cost the system. After a short print high quality examine, I carried out the optionally available printhead alignment.
Brother makes use of the print and scan methodology, aligning the printheads mechanically. Each printer producer ought to benefit from the built-in scanners of all-in-one printers as a substitute of requiring the consumer to overview alignment pages and make guide changes.
A sticker with a QR code for the cell app is positioned on the highest of the printer. The identical QR code seems on the touchscreen show throughout setup. Brother’s Cellular Join app is offered for the iPhone and Android telephones.
The one minor difficulty I got here throughout when putting in the MFC-J4535DW was the firmware replace. It’s good to enter the printer’s password, which is situated on the again of the printer. I used to be in a position to get a readable photograph by reaching across the again with my cellphone. I needed to kind this password on the touchscreen, which felt somewhat too small for my fingers. It’s not an enormous drawback, however price mentioning.
Whereas most printers present you bars for every coloration that signify ink ranges, Brother goes a bit additional. The user-friendly Web page Gauge characteristic estimates the variety of pages you’ll be able to print with the ink remaining. With contemporary cartridges, that quantity will probably be nicely over 1,000 pages.
It’s straightforward to attach through Home windows and macOS. The Brother Cellular Join app helps iOS and Android. All the things labored as anticipated besides printing envelopes from my cellphone. There’s no choice to print envelopes from the cell app or through AirPrint. Envelopes are straightforward from a pc.
Worth
Shade cartridges present about 1,500 pages, whereas black doubles that to three,000 pages. Brother additionally sells a high-capacity black that holds as much as 6,000 pages price of ink. Primarily based on Brother’s testing, you’ll pay about 1 cent for every monochrome doc and 5 cents per coloration doc — 4 cents should you order coloration cartridges in a three-pack.
Brother’s MFC-J4535DW isn’t a real inkjet tank printer because it nonetheless makes use of cartridges, but it surely nonetheless gives nice worth in comparison with most cartridge-based inkjet printers and coloration laser printers, the place coloration pages can price greater than 10 cents every. A real tank printer reduces ink price to tenths of a cent per doc.
Brother estimates the big starter cartridges on this INKvestment printer ought to allow you to preserve printing for a few 12 months.
Is that this the printer for you?
The Brother MFC-J4535DW is such a pleasant plain paper photograph printer that I needed to love it. Nevertheless, you will get related outcomes with the Brother MFC-J1205W INKvestment Tank printer at about half the value. The MFC-J4535DW is quicker, but when pace is most importan yo you, then a coloration laser printer just like the HP Shade LaserJet Professional 4301fdw is tough to beat.
For those who want coloration copies or scans, I can’t advocate the MFC-J4535DW, for the reason that outcomes are disappointing. As an all-in-one that lacks good copy and scan high quality, this most likely isn’t the precise printer for you until you get it at a reduction worth.
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