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Brother DCP-9020CDW review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £237
inc VAT

A low price and decent print quality are let down by some of the highest print costs we’ve seen from a laser-class MFP

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PRINT COSTS

The cost of toner for the DCP-9020CDW is surprisingly high. The highest-yield cartridges available are a £58 2,500-page black toner and 2,200-page colour cartridges priced at £81 each. That alone gives you an inordinately high (for a laser-class printer) mono page cost of 2.3p and a mixed black and colour cost of 13.4p. That’s before you take into account other consumables, including a drum unit and belt. Include these, and a full-colour page costs 14.1p.

Total Ownership Costs are also high, although low-yield users who take their time going through the supplied 1,000 pages worth of toner will do better than heavy-duty business users, thanks to the printer’s relatively low purchase price of £237. If you do a lot of printing, as in our high-yield example of 2,000 mono and 1,000 colour pages a month, the cost of consumables will sting you for a massive £6,422 over three years. Light users end up paying a somewhat more reasonable £538.

CONCLUSION

The DCP-9020CDW has generally good print quality, but its slow print speeds and high costs make it a poor buy for most businesses, despite its surprisingly low purchase price. This is a pity, as we love the MFP’s interface and particularly its ability to print from and scan to our favourite cloud storage services. Unless you’re a very light user who requires these specific features, though, the Xerox WorkCentre 6605DN has an equally approachable interface and costs less to run.

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Basic Specifications

Rating***
Maximum native print resolution2,400x600dpi
Max optical resolution1,200×2,400dpi
Output bit depth24-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A418ppm
Quoted speed, colour A418ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.01m 1s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.01m 8s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB Hi-Speed, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11n wireless
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size483x410x410mm
Weight18.3kg
Noise (in normal use)53dB(A)
Duty cycle30,000 pages

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA4
Maximum paper weight163gsm
Standard paper inputs1
Standard paper input capacity250
Maximum paper inputs1
Maximum paper input capacity250
Duplex (code, cost if option)Yes

General

Printer technologysingle-pass colour LED
Language(s)PCL6, BR-Script 3
Supported operating systemsWindows XP/Vista/7/8, Mac OS X 10.6.8+, Linux
Maximum printer memory192MB
Other laser features and options£15

Buying Information

Price£237
Price per colour A4 page11.1p
Price of 2nd paper cassetteN/A
Warrantyone year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.printerbase.co.uk
Detailswww.brother.co.uk

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview13s
A4 document at 150dpi14s
A4 document at 300dpi18s
6x4in photo at 600dpi19s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi57s
Single 35mm negative at 2400dpiN/A

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.017s
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.017s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.048s

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies99
Copier zoom range25-400%
Max mono copy resolution600x600dpi
Max colour copy resolution600x600dpi

Fax Features

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