Brother MFC-9320CW review: LED printer

Brother quotes a print speed for the MFC-9320CW of 16ppm in both mono and colour print modes and under test we clocked up a maximum speed of 13ppm printing a 20-page, black text document. Printing colour gave just under 8ppm on our five-page test. Neither of these speeds is particularly quick, but in a small office or workgroup they should be adequate.

Print quality is easily as good as from a laser printer offering equivalent resolution. Black text is sharp and clean and colours are bright, with no signs of spatter or other artefacts.

Surprisingly, photo images are also well reproduced, for this class of machine, with colours coming out a lot more natural than from many of its rivals we've tested.

The black drum and toner cartridge has a capacity of 2,200 pages and each of the colour ones can produce 1,400 pages. This gives a cost for black text of 2.5 pence per page and for colour, 11.7 pence. These costs are a little on the high side, but not far above many of the machine's rivals.

Verdict

This is a well-designed, small office or workgroup multifunction machine with flexible fax and the convenience of a wireless network connection.

Its LED print engine produces high quality output, particularly for photographic content, and both speed and running costs are reasonable.

In brief: 16ppm black and colour, A4 small office colour LED multifunction

Resolution: 2,400 x 600dpi

Paper handling: 250-sheet paper tray, plus single-sheet multi-purpose

Duty cycle: Average 300-1,500, max 25,000 pages, monthly

Connectivity: USB 2, 10/100 Ethernet, WiFi

Software: Nuance PaperPort 11SE, host-based driver, Brother MFL-Pro, PCL 6 and BR-Script 3 emulation drivers downloadable