If you ’re shop for an low-priced all - in - one pressman , the Brother MFC - L3720CDW might hitch your eye . Brother is a familiar name and makes some ofthe best coloring material optical maser printersthat declare oneself the reliability and refinement that modest businesses depend on .

With its built - in robotlike document feeder ( ADF ) and facsimile capability , the MFC - L3720CDW could solve many home place needs , save a misstep to the local office store . I went hand - on to gibe the speed and print quality , tested the copy and scan feature , and researched the farsighted - term monetary value of toner to help youdecide if this is the correct printing machine for you .

Specs

Design

The MFC - L3720CDW is a big , sturdy all - in - one color laser printer with print , scan , copy , and fax capabilities . It has a footprint of 17.5 inch by 16.1 inches and a height of 15.8 inches . The 44 - pound weight unit means you want to plan where to put this pressman before countermand it onto your desk or stand .

Brother ’s off - livid and medium gray colour scheme will combine in with any decor . The 3.5 - column inch colour touchscreen is get at 7 degrees from horizontal so I had to stand to translate the display .

The main paper tray hold 250 sheets and a manual provender tray lets me impress single sheets , which is a nice option for labels and envelopes . The ADF accept up to 50 Page at a meter .

While most Brother optical maser printers include three character of connectivity , the MFC - L3720CDW supports dual - band Wi - Fi and USB - B , but lack an Ethernet interface . However , it does have porthole for facsimile machine in and telephone out , so you could associate an resolve machine without a separate line .

Printing performance

The Brother MFC - L3720CDW outputs crisp black - and - blanched schoolbook , even for all right print . Color documents also look secure , with no banding or gaps in coloring blocks .

picture print quality is good , but a bit undersaturated and boring . If I oversaturated the picture on my phone , the MFC - L3720CDW could create a richer photo . That entail this is a software package issue that Brother could fix in a future update .

A vividness laser pressman is almost always faster than an inkjet for foresightful documents . Brother ’s MFC - L3720CDW manages 19 pages per minute ( ppm ) for monochrome and color documents , which is double or triple the output of some inkjet printing machine .

However , HP ’s quick OfficeJet Pro 9125e rolls through 22 ppm in blackand 18 ppm in color , making the MFC - L3720CDW the slow color optical maser printing machine I ’ve ever reviewed .

Another important speeding test is how long it takes to publish the first Sir Frederick Handley Page . chum hack corners a bit here as well . The MFC - L3720CDW takes 15 secondment for the first pageboy out ( FPO ) . By comparison , Canon ’s well - rated imageClass MF654cdw thin that by a thirdwith a 10 - second FPO .

Special features

For an office , transcript and facsimile machine can be essential . The Brother MFC - L3720CDW includes fast ADF and flatbed scanners to do by those needs . The scanner is riotous than the printer , so there ’s no delay when make a copy . It fit the 19 ppm photographic print f number .

While the printer abide duplex apartment , the ADF ca n’t scan both sides of a page . If I need to replicate a twofold - sided document , I ’m forced to use the flatbed scanner and manually flip out each Sir Frederick Handley Page , which is a laborious task .

The ADF scans at a maximum of 600 dots per inch ( dpi ) , which is ok for most situation . For a more detailed CAT scan of a photograph or fine print , I select the 1200 dpi flatbed image scanner . So far , most printer manufacturers specify Mobile River scanning to 300 dpi .

Printers likeEpson ’s EcoTank 2800 allow up to 600 dpi scanning . Still , that ’s half the resolving available when relate to a computer . I do n’t like arbitrary limitation of otherwise estimable hardware .

Software and compatibility

As a leading printing machine manufacturer , Brother makes setup simple . The toner cartridges are stored inside the printing machine , but are crest for shipping . It only shoot a few second to uncap and replace the four cartridges . Like most modern printers , the MFC - L3720CDW checks for new firmware and can install updates without connecting to a estimator .

I connect the MFC - L3720CDW to Wi - Fi using the Brother Connect mobile app and was ready to print in just a few minutes . Windows and Mac computing gadget recognize Brother printers well and automatically install drivers as ask . For the honorable timbre and most options for scanning , I downloaded Brother ’s desktop iPrint&Scan app .

Price

Brother charge $ 400 for the MFC - L3720CDW , a dainty damage for small businesses that need a durable color laser pressman . It ’s also affordable enough for dwelling house offices . The greater care is how quickly toner price will pile up .

The MFC - L3720CDW ships with starter cartridges that can print up to 1,000 black-market and 1,000 color page . If you print often or in high-pitched volume , you ’ll want to consecrate more toner soon .

High - proceeds cartridge volunteer the most time value . The MFC - L3720CDW can print monochrome pages with an average price of three to four centime per page . Color costs will total up quickly at 13 to 17 cents per varlet .

If you require color laser printing machine speed at a more low-cost price per pageboy , Brother ’s MFC - L3780CDW is faster and admit XXL cartridgesto cut printing process costs to two cents for bleak and 10 cents for color pages .

Is this the printer for you?

Brother ’s MFC - L3720CDW is design for offices and is place to impress up to 40,000 pages per month with a sustained volume of 3,000 page . Brother includes security features and cloud connectivity that might appeal to small businesses .

unluckily , the features are circumscribe , lacking Ethernet and duplex copying .   Since the most frugal cartridges wo n’t fit , the MFC - L3720CDW has bad long - full term value than other Brother printers .

Brother ’s MFC - L3720CDW confront wet competition frombetter printing machine like the Canon imageClass MF654cdw . Even theHP OfficeJet Pro 9125e , a business - orient inkjet pressman , is as fast as Brother ’s budget optical maser printe , radius with a lower initial cost and more economic cost per pageboy for ink .

If you care the facial expression of the MFC - L3720CDW , but want a faster printer with more feature , Brother ’s MFC - L3780CDW only cost $ 100 more , comes with more toner , and take the largest XXL cartridges .