Design: Technically, it Uses LED Technology
Like the Brother MFC-L3770CDW, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW is not exactly a laser printer; it is a printer that uses light-emitting diode (LED) technology. Instead of using lasers to etch the image of the page onto the photoconductive drum before transferring it to the paper, it uses a set of light-emitting diodes to achieve the same result. From a user perspective, laser printers and LED printers are nearly interchangeable, which is why they are often grouped together under the general category of laser printers. Currently, Brother and OKI Data sell monochrome and color printers that use LED arrays.
Theoretically, printers that use LED technology can be smaller, lighter, have simpler mechanical parts, operate quietly, and consume less energy compared to an equivalent laser model. In practice, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW is a printer of standard size for its price range and performance. Measuring 15.8 × 18.2 × 16.1 inches, it is roughly the same size as the Brother MFC-L3770CDW, Canon Color imageClass MF746Cdw, and HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw. All of them have a 250-sheet input tray, and all come with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder. Whether a printer is based on laser technology or LED technology, these paper capacities will require a printer of sufficient size to successfully handle the associated tasks. Brother specifies the monthly duty cycle for the MFC-L3780CDW at 50,000 pages, compared to 30,000 pages for the L3770CDW. The recommended monthly page volume is 4,000 pages, versus 1,500 pages for the previous model. (Source: Brother)
Weighing 47.8 pounds, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW is the lightest among the previously mentioned models. Among the group, the Canon Color imageClass MF746Cdw is the heaviest at 64 pounds. Even the older model L3770CDW weighs 53.9 pounds. While the lighter construction may suggest less metal inside and possibly less structural sturdiness, the weight advantage of the Brother MFC-L3780CDW may also be attributed to its LED-based print engine.
Despite being well-equipped, the Brother MFC-L3780CDW has one drawback. Like the Brother MFC-L3770CDW, it has a 30-sheet multifunction tray. This is less than the 50-sheet multifunction tray that comes with the Canon Color imageClass MF746Cdw, HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw, and HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw. While this is not a huge issue, you can increase the total paper capacity by an additional 250 sheets using an optional lower paper tray that costs $149.99. However, if you regularly print envelopes, labels, or glossy paper, you may find the 30-sheet multifunction tray somewhat limiting. (This type of paper will need to be fed through the multifunction tray.)
Setting Up the Brother MFC-L3780CDW: A Shortcut
The Brother MFC-L3780CDW features a 3.5-inch color touchscreen. The control panel’s interface has distinctive icons that visually represent the unit’s functions, with those icons also well-labeled, making it particularly easy to navigate the device’s menus. Additionally, you can set up to 48 shortcuts for frequently used settings related to copying, scanning, faxing, emailing, or storing/retrieving documents. Your saved shortcuts will be stored within eight tabs, each tab containing up to six shortcuts. With a little planning, you can use the tab structure to organize your shortcuts by document type, function, or destination. (Source: Brother)
On
Although the 3.5-inch color touchscreen is sufficient, it is relatively small compared to touchscreens in similar models. The older Brother MFC-L3770CD has a 3.7-inch color touchscreen, which isn’t too far off in dimensions. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw features a 4.3-inch color touchscreen, while the Canon Color imageClass MF746Cdw has a 5.0-inch color touchscreen.
The Brother MFC-L3780CDW offers a wide range of connectivity options. In addition to Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports, this model has Wi-Fi connectivity. It also supports Wi-Fi Direct for bypassing the network and connecting directly to compatible devices. This can be useful for certain smartphones, cameras, computers, and gaming devices. It includes Wi-Fi Protected Setup for one-button installation with your wireless router. It also has NFC wireless badge authentication, which can be valuable if you need to protect sensitive business information.
This model is compatible with AirPrint and Mopria for mobile printing. It is also compatible with popular cloud storage services like Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, and OneNote. You can use Brother’s Brother Mobile Connect app for wireless printing, scanning, and copying documents. With the Brother iPrint & Scan app, you can edit, preview, and send faxes.
Brother MFC-L3780CDW Test: Speed Boost
Brother rates the print speed of the MFC-L3780CDW at 31 pages per minute (ppm). This is relatively fast for an entry-level color laser multifunction printer. In comparison, the L3770CDW is rated at 25ppm, and the Canon Color imageClass MF746Cdw is rated at 28ppm. Of course, if you’re willing to pay more, faster print speeds are available with some mid-range models. For example, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw is rated at 35ppm. To see if the MFC-L3780CDW truly lives up to its expectations, I tested it over Ethernet on a standard Intel Core i5 desktop testing platform running Windows 10 Pro.
The MFC-L3780CDW comes with the default configuration for duplex (two-sided) printing. In this scenario, I timed and recorded the printer’s performance in both simplex (one-sided) and duplex printing. When printing our standard 12-page Word document (excluding the first page), I timed the unit at 14.4ppm in duplex mode and 32.0ppm in simplex mode. This simplex result was 1ppm faster than its rated speed.
It was also 5.2ppm faster than the L3770CDW’s test result of 26.8ppm and 3.3ppm faster than the Canon MF746Cdw’s test result of 28.7ppm. However, it couldn’t keep up with the HP 4301fdw. This higher-priced model delivered a test result of 36.0ppm, which is 4.0ppm faster than the MFC-L3780CDW.
Next, I timed the MFC-L3780CDW while printing our set of business applications, which is a mix of colorful and complex PDF files, charts, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, along with PowerPoint files. Its result was 13.6ppm, which was 3.3ppm faster than the L3770CDW, which scored 10.3ppm in the same test. However, it was slower by 3.6ppm than the HP 4301fdw and 3.8ppm than the Canon MF746Cdw. These models achieved scores of 17.2ppm and 17.4ppm, respectively. If you tend to print a lot of charts and graphs, the MFC-L3780CDW may seem a bit slow compared to similar color laser multifunction printers.
And while no laser printer can outshine a dedicated photo printer for print quality, I timed two 4 × 6-inch test images using the Brother MFC-L3780CDW to see how quickly it could print photographic materials. The unit printed each image in about 12 seconds. That was significantly faster than the L3770CDW, which took about 18 seconds for the same image.
Overall,
The MFC-L3780CDW is faster across the board compared to the previous generation L3770CDW. It also maintains its speed when it comes to printing text documents, compared to lower-end color laser multifunction printers. However, it may be slightly slower on some graphic materials compared to similar models. If this is important to you, you may want to consider mid-range models, which tend to focus on speed and capacity rather than price.
Excellent Quality at a Competitive Price
With any laser-class printer, you should be able to produce text near the quality of professional text printers, which is suitable for most business text documents. The MFC-L3780CDW easily passes the grade required for this type of document. I was able to read typical business fonts at a very small 4-point size. I did not see any dropped dots or faint vertical lines in the printouts. Everything was clean and in place. For graphs and charts, colors were well-defined with no bleeding along the edges. Colors were accurate across the spectrum, although the level of contrast could be a bit stronger. And although the contrast was slightly limited, the saturation levels were good and properly calibrated to match the content.
The printed images looked similar. Colors were accurate with slightly muted contrast. As with any laser-class printer, you won’t be able to print borderless pages as you can with an inkjet printer. However, the photo print quality of the MFC-L3780CDW is more than adequate for brochures, flyers, property listings, or similar business documents. (Source: Brother)
Brother offers a wide range of options when shopping for replacement inks. You can buy standard-capacity, high-capacity, or super high-capacity cartridges for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks. As you can guess, you will need to buy super high-capacity inks to achieve the lowest printing costs. This means that when replacing ink, you will need to pay a significant amount upfront, but this cash outlay will allow you to have a ready backup supply of ink. More importantly, it will significantly reduce your printing costs.
With super high-capacity inks, your printing costs should be around 12.3 cents per color page and 2.3 cents per black-and-white page. This is significantly less than the costs of the L3770CDW, especially for colors. The L3770CDW would cost about 15.5 cents per color page and 2.6 cents per monochrome page. The MFC-L3780CDW also outperforms the Canon MF746Cdw, which costs about 13.3 cents per color page and 2.5 cents per monochrome page. The MFC-L3780CDW also edges out the color printing costs of the HP 4301fdw, although they have about the same monochrome printing costs. The HP 4301fdw would cost about 14.1 cents per color page and 2.3 cents per monochrome page.
Conclusion: The Best Gets Better
The Brother MFC-L3780CDW is a significant upgrade over the Brother MFC-L3770CDW. It is much faster, has a higher recommended monthly duty cycle, and has a more competitive cost per page. The quality of photos, copying, and scanning is excellent. It also has many wireless connectivity options, including NFC. The 30-sheet multipurpose tray can be cumbersome, especially if you regularly print envelopes, labels, or glossy paper. And although the price of $499.99 is somewhat high for a lower-end color laser multifunction printer, it is not unexpected these days for a capable and well-equipped model. Therefore, the MFC-L3780CDW is the new Editors’ Choice winner for affordable color laser printers.
Specifications
Technical specifications for Brother MFC-L3780CDW
Automatic document feeder
Color or mono
Connection type
Bluetooth
Connection type
Ethernet
Connection type
USB
Connection type
Wi-Fi
Connection type
Wi-Fi Direct
Cost per page (Color)
12.3 cents
Cost per page (Mono)
2.3 cents
Direct printing from USB drives
Duplex scanning
Maximum scanning area
Legal
Maximum standard paper size
Legal
Monthly duty cycle (maximum)
50,000
Monthly duty cycle (recommended)
4,000
Number of ink cartridges/tanks
4
Number of ink colors
4
Duplex printing
Printer input capacity
250
Estimated speed in default settings (Color)
31 pages per minute
Estimated speed in default settings (Mono)
31 pages per minute
Optical scanning resolution
1,200 × 1,200 pixels per inch
Scanner type
Flatbed with automatic document feeder
Standalone copier and fax machine
Copier
Standalone copier and fax machine
Fax
Type
All-in-one
Table of contents
Design: Technically, it uses light-emitting diode technology
Setting up Brother MFC-L3780CDW: Shortcuts
Testing Brother MFC-L3780CDW: Speed improvements
Excellent quality at a competitive price
Conclusion: The best gets better
Source: https://me.pcmag.com/en/migrated-20242-printers/20963/brother-mfc-l3780cdw
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