*NEWS*BROTHER's NEW MFC-9840CDW

[Anonymous]

http://www.macworld.com/article/133208/2008/05/brother_mfc9840cdw.html?t=104
Brother’s New MFC-9840CDW
The
Brother MFC-9840CDW is a multifunction color laser printer, copier,
scanner, and fax machine with wired and wireless networking
capabilities. It doesn’t come cheap, but if you’re looking for a
versatile machine that does its job well, the MFC-9840CDW is a
worthwhile investment. It can be a little tricky to use—especially when
you’re setting up wireless printing—but you end up with high-quality
output that’s produced quickly.
Setup and usability

Setting
up the MFC-9840CDW was a breeze. After powering up the machine and
installing the toner cartridges, you have three connection options:
Ethernet, USB 2.0, or 802.11b/g wireless. Connecting via USB is as
simple as it sounds. And when we plugged in the device via Ethernet,
the MFC-9840CDW automatically appeared as a Bonjour printer. The
trickiest connection setup was the wireless, which required setting up
IP printing. The user manual, however, does a good job of directing you
through this process.

The MFC-9840CDW’s control panel is well
designed and clearly labeled. Three large buttons allow you to choose
between the fax, scan, and copy functions. The control panel consists
of rubber buttons that are pleasant to use, and a bright, backlit LCD
clearly displays the settings you can choose from.

The
MFC-9840CDW includes a convenient automatic document feeder to make
copying easy. A nice bonus is the ability to copy double-sided
documents by pressing the Duplex button.Disappointingly, the included
scanner software doesn’t offer very flexible scanning options. It is,
however, easy to use and straightforward.
Output quality and speed

The
MFC-9840CDW outputted very good results overall, impressing our panel
of experts. Text quality looked clean and professional, earning a Very
Good rating. In our test print of a picnic photo, the colors overall
were on the lighter side, but the image looked pleasing overall,
earning another Very Good rating. The scanner’s output looked slightly
dark compared to our control image, but the device captured fine
details and the overall image was clear and realistic. The
MFC-9840CDW’s copier received a Good rating: in a test copy of a
Macworld magazine cover, some details got lost, and blacks looked
slightly dull.

The MFC-9840CDW’s print speeds were impressive.
It took just under 40 seconds to print a ten-page Word document, and 15
seconds to print a one-page Word document. Color scanning was a bit on
the slower side: it took 1 minute and 11 seconds to scan an
8-by-10-inch photo at 600 dpi.

[Author]

May 11, 2008 at 2:50 PM