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 picture printer, however the copy and scan high quality destroy an in any other case nice design.”
Professionals
- Spectacular plain paper picture high quality
- Quick doc print velocity
- 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 pictures 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 singular printer in some ways, and you may 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 one of the best printers.
Design
The Brother MFC-J4535DW is a surprisingly quick printer for an all-in-one with an automated doc feeder (ADF) and three paper trays. The peak is below 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 simple 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 colour touchscreen. Two 200-sheet paper trays are absolutely detachable, permitting simple printing on two sorts of paper or 4×6 picture 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 telephone line ports for facsimiles are on the left facet and the hooked up energy twine 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 which means you may want longer cables to succeed in your pc. That received’t matter for those who join by way of 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 colour 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. Coloration paperwork got here out so properly that I made a decision to strive plain paper pictures.
The standard was outstanding. Whereas saturation was a bit too excessive and element was decrease than a devoted picture printer just like the Epson EcoTank ET-8500, the Brother MFC-J4535DW can print nice-looking footage on plain paper.
Transferring on to shiny paper, I used to be shocked to seek out the standard dropped. I attempted two several types of 4×6 shiny picture inventory in case one was incompatible, however the saturation was muted on high-quality picture paper. Coloration accuracy is nice however a bit washed-out and low distinction.
You should utilize thick paper within the paper tray, nevertheless it had a little bit of a curl after passing via 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 might swap between picture and plain paper simply and feed a specialty paper within the again with out reloading the 2 predominant trays.
Particular options
With an all-in-one printer, you need to be capable of deal with all your enterprise 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 offer 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 evaluations 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 velocity is gradual. The flatbed scanner can be gradual and yields barely fuzzy outcomes.
The USB-A port works nicely for fast picture prints from a thumb drive with out the necessity for a telephone. That is extra essential for an workplace setting, 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 quick print high quality verify, I carried out the optionally available printhead alignment.
Brother makes use of the print and scan technique, aligning the printheads routinely. Each printer producer ought to reap the benefits of the built-in scanners of all-in-one printers as an alternative of requiring the consumer to evaluation alignment pages and make handbook 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 Cell Join app is out there for the iPhone and Android telephones.
The one minor subject 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 capable of get a readable picture by reaching across the again with my telephone. I needed to kind this password on the touchscreen, which felt somewhat too small for my fingers. It’s not a giant downside, however value mentioning.
Whereas most printers present you bars for every colour that characterize ink ranges, Brother goes a bit additional. The user-friendly Web page Gauge function estimates the variety of pages you possibly can print with the ink remaining. With recent cartridges, that quantity might be nicely over 1,000 pages.
It’s simple to attach by way of Home windows and macOS. The Brother Cell Join app helps iOS and Android. Every part labored as anticipated besides printing envelopes from my telephone. There’s no choice to print envelopes from the cell app or by way of AirPrint. Envelopes are simple from a pc.
Value
Coloration 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 value of ink. Based mostly on Brother’s testing, you’ll pay about 1 cent for every monochrome doc and 5 cents per colour doc — 4 cents for those who order colour cartridges in a three-pack.
Brother’s MFC-J4535DW isn’t a real inkjet tank printer because it nonetheless makes use of cartridges, nevertheless it nonetheless presents nice worth in comparison with most cartridge-based inkjet printers and colour laser printers, the place colour pages can value greater than 10 cents every. A real tank printer reduces ink value to tenths of a cent per doc.
Brother estimates the massive starter cartridges on this INKvestment printer ought to allow you to hold printing for a few 12 months.
Is that this the printer for you?
The Brother MFC-J4535DW is such a pleasant plain paper picture printer that I wished to love it. Nevertheless, you may get comparable outcomes with the Brother MFC-J1205W INKvestment Tank printer at about half the value. The MFC-J4535DW is quicker, but when velocity is most importan yo you, then a colour laser printer just like the HP Coloration LaserJet Professional 4301fdw is difficult to beat.
For those who want colour copies or scans, I can’t suggest 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 proper printer for you except you get it at a reduction worth.
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