Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center

5 responses to Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center

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  drifter yank

  Comment on Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center (March 11th, 2010 at 21:42)

  I seriously considered buying this printer for home use based on its 4.5-star rating by six Amazon users. The 1.5¢ cost per page rating by a major consumer organization was another major attraction. But, then I wandered around the Staples store some more and did my own calculations. There are three toner cartridges that can be used in this printer: TN-350, TN-360 and DR-360. Their respective prices are $57.69, $72.29 and $115.49. Their claimed maximum pages-yield are, respectively, 1500, 2600 and 12000. Excluding sales taxes, these compute to the following respective ink costs per page: 3.8¢, 2.8¢ and 1.0¢.

  A 2000-sheet case of 8.5 x 11 white laser paper costs $38.99. Excluding taxes, this computes to 1.9¢ per page.

  So, for ink and paper you are going to pay between 2.9¢ and 5.7¢ a page (excluding taxes) depending on the toner cartridge that you buy. This is getting up in the range of inkjet copy costs and you do not have the option of color printing. I have no idea how the consumer organization came up with their 1.5¢ cost per page. This is a gross underestimate.

  I ended up buying a Canon Pixma MX860 which gets 4-stars from 173 Amazon users. It is wireless, prints color and sells for $30 less than this Brother at Staples. The consumer organization claims 4.6¢ per black-text copy for this Canon. Based on their major underestimate on the Brother, their estimate on the Canon may also be inaccurate. A 2500-sheet case of inkjet paper sells for $38.99 which is 1.6¢ per sheet. This is 16% less than laser paper. Unfortunately, I cannot calculate the yield from a black inkjet cartridge since there are no yield figures from the manufacturer. Thus, I do not presently have a cost per page for the Canon inkjet. And, the Canon is too new for me to comment on at this time.

  I am forced to rate the Brother for this review. But, I did not buy the Brother, so I have no user experience with it. I am giving it 2 Stars based mainly on the high cost per page for a laser while having fewer features than many comparably priced inkjets.
  Rating: 2 / 5

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  SoCalJD

  Comment on Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center (March 11th, 2010 at 21:52)

  5 stars across the board, yet I hate it. Why? Because I just tried to print from MS Word and I get “manual feed insert paper”. Spent the last hour or so trying to figure it out. Did what the Brother site said, and it didn’t work. Been on hold for Brother customer service for about 10min now and I *think* they just hung up.This was *supposed* to be a big Monday for me, and yet all I’ve done so far is deal with this crap.
  Rating: 1 / 5

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  Carol Jones

  Comment on Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center (March 11th, 2010 at 21:57)

  I love Brother products. My first Brother All-in-one was the best. Never had any problems with it until they decided to stop making drivers available for Windows Vista users. So I decided to get this one. Overall, it’s ok, but sending multi-page faxes using the document feeder is impossible, at least for me, which kind of makes this a drag. Other than that, it’s fine.
  Rating: 3 / 5

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  Big Easy

  Comment on Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center (March 11th, 2010 at 23:20)

  I had a problem with copies being to light for my liking.I contacted Brothers Help and they gave me information that was not in the USER’S GUIDE.To increase darkness, press menu then enter 216. At that point I was able to increase density and now I’m happy.I still have a problem with copy’s being light when printing e-mails.I would like to be able to improve that feature.(I have not made a return call to Brothers Help desk) I repaired copiers for 30 years and I would have to say over all I’m happy with what I got for what I payed. I was able to purchase my MFC-7340 for $159.99 with no shipping..The scan mode slows down considerable if you select 300×300 or more.
  Rating: 4 / 5

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  Frank Alexander

  Comment on Brother MFC-7340 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center (March 12th, 2010 at 01:59)

  Printer worked like a charm with my older G4 Mac. Wish it had a paper tray that could be pulled out where it deposits papers after printing instead of “peaking” out the side as it does now. Same goes for the “manual feed” where you insert an envelope or special paper one at a time to print. There is no tray to put them on, you must insert them through a slit in the side and only one at a time, it seems. But other than that, a great all around machine for the money!
  Rating: 5 / 5