Most of the printing devices we’ve reviewed till now have been designed for groups of people, even though the sizes of those groups have varied. We’ve reviewed printers and multifunction printers aimed at micro businesses to even those that are made for large scale businesses. One type of printing device that we’ve not reviewed much till now is the personal printer. This post will remedy that fact because it is a review of the Brother MFC-7240.
The Brother MFC-7240 is a monochrome laser printer that is most suited to individuals or extremely small businesses that don’t expect to be doing a lot of printing. The limited functionality and feature set of this device reflect that objective. Moreover, the initial cost also reflects this device’s target audience. If you’re an individual looking to adorn your desk with a sufficiently useful printer, then you may be considering the Brother MFC-7240. Here’s a Brother MFC-7240 review to help you make a decision.
Strengths of Brother MFC-7240
As mentioned, the Brother MFC-7240 is a multifunction printer. This is definitely a benefit for individual users because it means that they can print, copy, scan and fax from a single device. However, as any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is wont to do, Brother lists a fifth functionality of this printer i.e. the ability to fax from the PC.
This functionality is usually available with a multifunction printer and despite Brother’s insistence, should be taken as an extension of the faxing functionality as opposed to an independent functionality. The Brother MFC-7240 also has a number of scan-to functionalities that may come in handy for many users.
The most important quality of the Brother MFC-7240 is that it is economical. First of all, the initial investment in this machine would be within reach for most professionals. The running costs of the Brother MFC-7240 are also very helpful. If you use genuine cartridges, you’ll end up getting a sheet for only about 6.25 cents.
However, you can take that down even more by using generic cartridges. Using generic cartridges will see the per-page costs go down to only 4.68 cents. Taking into consideration the accepted print quality benchmarks of laser printers, the Brother MFC-7240’s overall output quality isn’t all that bad. After all, like other multifunction printers, the Brother MFC-7240 doesn’t have poor colour prints to bring down its overall output quality. In simpler words, if you plan on printing only text and some basic monochrome graphics, then you’ll be happy with this printer and its rated maximum resolution of 2400 x 600 dots per inch (dpi).
The print speed of this printer will also be sufficient for a single user. The Brother MFC-7240 is rated to print at about 20 pages per minute (ppm), something that is actually on par with most other devices in the same product segment. For an individual, the total paper capacity of the Brother MFC-7240 is also quite decent at 271 pages. This can be divided into a 250-sheet paper tray, a 20-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) and a single sheet manual feed slot.
With respect to usability features, there are a few that may or may not supplement your daily tasks. The first is that the Brother MFC-7240 comes with a wired handset in case you want to use the phone line for a direct chat. More important than the handset is the memory backup function which may end up saving you some professional blushes in the future. Furthermore, the device is energy star rated which means that it consumes less energy. Needless to say, this doesn’t only add to the money you save but also helps the environment.
Weaknesses of Brother MFC-7240
The obvious limitation of the Brother MFC-7240 is its minimalistic feature set. The Brother MFC-7240 is missing many features which are common in most modern day multifunction and single function printers. For instance, you won’t have the option of automatic duplexing in this printer. This is something that we view as an opportunity lost for Brother even though we understand pricing based limitations.
Another significant feature that the Brother MFC-7240 lacks is Wi-Fi connectivity. In fact, the Brother MFC-7240 doesn’t even have Ethernet connectivity. This automatically means that mobile connectivity isn’t an option here. Resultantly, there is no support for Air Print, Google Cloud Print, or even Brother’s proprietary printing app.
While the device does offer memory backup function, this could be limited by the provided storage space. The Brother MFC-7240 comes with only 16MB. The processing power of this printer is also on the lower side since it only has ARM9 200MHz. This is possibly why the printer takes about 10 seconds to spit out the first print.
Having said all that, though, we’d like to remind you that the Brother MFC-7240 is designed for individuals or extremely low volume printing. What this means is that many of the limitations listed above may not matter for most potential buyers of this device.
Key Features of Brother MFC-7240
The monthly duty cycle of the Brother MFC-7240 also reflects its intended target audience. According to its rating, the device can handle up to 2,000 printed pages per month with the minimum being 250 sheets. The maximum scanning resolution that the Brother MFC-7240 can handle is 19,200 x 19,200 dpi.
The Brother MFC-7240 is a fairly compact printer and can be easily placed on the standard office desk. It isn’t flat, however, so you may want to place the shelf above the desk a little higher. This device measures about 311mm high, 360mm deep and 368mm wide. This printer is also not that heavy. After all, eight Kg should be within reach for most individuals.
Along with the handset on the device, there is also a control panel dominated by a 16-character, 2-line LCD screen. Along with the LCD screen, there are multiple controlling buttons on the control panel too.
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