The Brother DCP-7055W is an all-in-one
device that combines an A4 flatbed scanner with a mono laser printer. It's
slightly smaller at the base than the top, as it expands, through a height of
268mm, from 370 x 358mm (W x D) to 407 x 398.8mm, with the extra space being
used to accommodate the flatbed scanner. The overall appearance is quite
pleasant and will suit a home/office environment.
Brother
DCP-7055W
Just below the flatbed scanner is the
unit’s control panel. This features a centrally positioned 2" LCD panel
providing two lines of feedback information regarding status and settings. To
the left of the LCD are buttons for Options, Number of copies, Print Cancel and
Scan. Arranged on the right side are buttons for Menu, Clear, Up, Down, OK,
Stop and Start. A toggle switch for power on/off is located towards the rear of
the unit on the right side.
Supporting the printer module is the unit’s
main paper input tray with a capacity of 250 sheets. This enclosed tray would
have benefitted from some means of indicating when its content was getting low
but, sadly, this type of feature was missing. A second paper input slot allows
for individual sheets to be manually inserted when the need arises. Paper
output is from a mouth-like opening with a flip- out support flap.
Although small, this flap does ensure
printed documents are not scattered over the floor. Brother supplies a Starter
toner cartridge that is rated at 700 pages. You will need to remove this
cartridge and give it a shake before using it to print a test sheet. The
supplied software will lead you through the process of connecting the DCP-7055W
to your computer system via either USB or Wi-Fi. Generally, this is a quick and
straightforward process, although you will need to use a temporary USB
connection if you opt for a Wi-Fi connection and your router does not support
WPS. Along with the appropriate drivers, the software consists of MFL-Pro Suite
and a copy of ScanSoft PaperPort 12SE.
The
scanner can be used to send documents to your computer or directly to the mono
laser printer, as it acts as a photocopier with enlarge and reduce options
The Brother Print driver gives you a choice
of 300, 600 or 1200dpi when printing documents. Using a 580-word one-page
document, the results of my tests can be seen in the table below.
This figures compare favorably with
Brother’s stated print speed of 20ppm. I was unable to distinguish any real
difference between 300 and 600dpi printing, but there was a marked darkening of
text when using 1200dpi. All three modes produced good-quality text and I would
not hesitate to use any mode for important documents. Graphics printing was
acceptable but not of the same high standard achieved with text. Options are
available to print multiple pages to a single sheet plus a manual duplex
feature.
“A reasonable all-round performer for the
home/office user”
The scanner can be used to send documents
to your computer or directly to the mono laser printer, as it acts as a
photocopier with enlarge and reduce options. When used as a photocopier, it
took 11 seconds to produce an A4 copy.
When not in use, the DCP-7055W
automatically puts itself into sleep mode when it's totally silent and reduces
power consumption from 1080W at its peak to 0.9W. There's some noise during
print and scan operations, but this is not excessive.
As mentioned earlier, you get a starter
toner cartridge. Replacement cartridges rated at 1,000 pages are priced at $63.
A new drum, rated at 12,000 pages, will cost $136.
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Brother DCP-7055W
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300dpi
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600dpi
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1200dpi
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19.5ppm
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19ppm
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19ppm
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Details
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Price: $248
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Manufacturer: Brother
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Website: www.brother.com
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Required spec: Windows XP or later, 1.85GB HDD
space / Mac OS X 10.4.31 or later, 480MB HDD space
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