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Brother DCP-J140W review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £50.28
inc VAT

The DCP-J140W is cheap, but it's also slow to print and expensive to run

Brother makes a truly daunting range of inkjet multifunction peripherals (MFPs), of which the DCP-J140W is one of the cheapest. An entry-level model aimed at micro businesses, it can handle basic prints, scans and copies, but there’s no fax facility.

BROTHER DCP-J140W

There are a couple of other features missing when compared to devices further up Brother’s range. There’s no automatic document feeder for unattended multi-page copying and the printer doesn’t support automatic duplex (double-sided) printing. It’s also one of comparatively few models without a memory card reader for making direct photo prints, but we’ve never been convinced that this is a necessary feature on a business machine.

The DCP-J140W is a squat device that can connect to a single PC via a USB connection, or be joined to a wireless network for sharing among several users. With just a simple LCD display and up/down keys, entering a network passkey is a little bit of a fumble, but it’s otherwise easy to set up. The 100-sheet paper input tray seems more robust than we’ve seen on some of Brother’s other printers, and it coped perfectly with a stack of paper which we had stored so awkwardly that it had developed a pronounced curve.

BROTHER DCP-J140W

Brother claims that the DCP-J140W can print up to 33 black pages per minute (ppm) or 27 in colour, but the 5ipm figure obtained with the ISO/IEC 24734 test gives a more accurate impression; that of a rather slow printer. The fastest rate we timed was 13.4ppm when producing 25 pages of draft text, but at the normal print quality this dropped to just 5.4ppm. Colour graphics edged out at just 3.7ppm, while postcard-sized borderless photos took more than two and a half minutes each.

Unfortunately the quality was nothing special. On plain paper, black and coloured inks lacked impact and black text had a slightly approximate outline, revealing at a glance that it came from an inkjet. While photo prints were also nothing special, they were more than adequate for occasional use.

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Basic Specifications

Rating***
Maximum native print resolution1,200×6,000dpi
Max optical resolution1,200×2,400dpi
Output bit depth24-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A433ppm
Quoted speed, colour A427ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.016m 19s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.016m 9s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB, 802.11b/g/n wireless
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size150x392x369mm
Weight6.8kg
Noise (in normal use)50dB(A)
Duty cycle2,500 pages

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA4/legal
Maximum paper weight218gsm
Standard paper inputs1
Standard paper input capacity100
Maximum paper inputs1
Maximum paper input capacity100
Duplex (code, cost if option)No

General

Printer technologypiezo inkjet
Supported operating systemsWindows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
Other inkjet featuresMono LCD display, supports Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 via free app
Other inkjet optionsnone

Buying Information

Price£50
Consumable parts and prices£6
Price per colour A4 page6.4p
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge300 pages (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s)260 pages each (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s)N/A
Warrantyone year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.lambda-tek.com
Detailswww.brother.co.uk

Print Quality

Number of ink colours4
Number of ink cartridges4
Maximum number of ink colours4
Maximum number of cartridges4
Quoted photo durability100 years
Quoted photo durability sourceBrother

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview12s
A4 document at 150dpi13s
A4 document at 300dpi19s
6x4in photo at 600dpi26s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi1m 20s

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.035s
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.039s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0N/A

Photo Features

PictBridge supportNo
Borderless printingA4
Direct (PC-less) printingNo
Supported memory cardsnone
CD printingNo

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies99
Max mono copy resolution1,200dpi
Max colour copy resolution600×1,200dpi

Fax Features

Max mono fax resolutionN/A
Fax memory (maximum mono pages)N/A