- Print and copy at up to 42ppm
- Automatic duplex print/copy/scan/fax
- 5" Color Touchscreen display with Web Connect
- 550-sheet paper capacity, expandable
- Built-in wireless 802.11b/g/n and Gigabit Ethernet network interfaces
I took the unit out of the box and began removing umpteen pieces of strapping tape and figured out how to install the initial starter (3,000 pages) cartridge and paper trays. (Two different high yield cartridges are available for purchase as well.) Took me a little while to figure how to fit everything in, but the instructions were clear. Powered the unit up and programmed it via touchscreen to connect to my wifi. Unfortunately, it does not support 5GHz 802.11n networks so I joined it with my 2.4GHz network, and after figuring out a few acronyms, got it to print. My Macs running Mountain Lion (10.8) had no problem seeing the printer via Bonjour and drivers were installed automatically.
I did not refer to the user guide during the setup process, but there are several available printed in addition to some very detailed network guides on the enclosed CD-ROM. Brother stroke a good balance between providing decent documentation but not printing a 500 page manual that everyone doesn''t need.
Printed the first few documents quickly and double sided with ease. I''ve printed envelopes and standard 20lb paper and haven''t had any jams or misfeeds. Clear, crisp black printing as expected from a laser. I didn''t time it to see if it met 42 pages per minute but it doesn''t seem too far off.
Once the printer is on the network, it''s much easier to configure via the HTTP gateway on the your computer''s web browser rather than the touch screen. First, I put in an SMTP gateway to be able to do scan-to-email and a POP server for email-to-print directly on the unit. Scan-to-email works great directly on the unit in PDF, JPG, or other common formats, including the fast and accurate automatic document feeder (ADF.) Unfortunately, email-to-print only works with the TIFF-F format -which is not useful. Would be nicer to be able to send a PDF directly to the printer (or even a word doc) and have it print as is, but alas, no. Subsequently, I shut this feature off. Similarly, printing via the front USB port is limited to PRN files (Windows) and JPG images -not real useful.
I did not test the fax function as I do not have a landline to test it out, but it seems well thought out and offers plenty of options (PC-Fax, address book, etc.) Scanning directly to my Mac does not work with the native Mac OS drivers but requires the installation of software from Brother -not sure who to blame for this, but my Epson inkjet multifunction totally functions within the native Mac OS X scan and print application. Additional software is included in the CD-ROM, but I didn''t feel a need to install it.
In terms of other costs, there''s 128MB RAM standard in the printer and it''s expandable using standard DIMMs. This should be fine for most users though. The drum unit, which is not part of the cartridge, has to be replaced every 30,000 pages -so factor this into your per page cost even if you are buying high yield cartridges. (Other brands usually include a new drum unit with every cartridge -I know this to be the case with HP.)
I''m knocking off one star for some poor thinking in the networking functions (no 5GHz network support), no native Mac network scanning, and unnecessary requirements of obscure/uncommon formats (i.e. TIFF) for the USB mass storage printing and email-to-print. If those features don''t really matter to you, then you''ve likely got a 5 star unit for your small to medium size office with laser printing, color scanning, and monochrome copying/faxing needs.
Buy Brother Printer MFC8950DW Wireless Monochrome Printer Now
Over the past few years I''ve spent well over $10,000 on Amazon. Just call me an amazon junkie! However, I think I''ve probably written only one review during that time. I''m grateful for those that do write reviews and I read many, many reviews as I research my purchases. Having said that, this printer is so freaking awesome I can''t resist letting the rest of my junkie friends know how wonderful it is.I am a geek. I have used Dell, Apple, Epson, Brother, HP, Samsung, Ricoh, Canon, etc. printers. I have set them up, used them, abused them, and loved many. This Brother MFC8950DW is replacing a HP Color Laserjet 2840. There is absolutely no comparison between the two. Although I should point out the HP was a color laser multi-function printer. I bought a $150 epson multi-function to take care of my color needs and I bought this Brother printer to take care of the high-volume daily needs for B&W laser printing, faxing, copying, scanning, etc.
I could go on for hours about the greatness of this machine. However, let me skip to the pertinent details that are not well documented.
This is definitly geared for the workplace.
It has settings locks, function locks, and more.
It comes with all the necessary drivers on CD.
Another reviewer dissed it due to not having network drivers. The drivers come on the CD. It''s a network printer.
It''s wifi built-in. I don''t know what that guy was talking about. I have 4 different computers all using this printer.
All 4 computers use the printer wirelessly. No problems. No errors. No confusion. It was amazingly simple. The silly
CD even finds the printer on the network and does all the installation/firewall/port routing for you. It''s really really easy.
It is an excellent scanner. The scanning resolution can be changed depending on your needs, so those that didn''t like
the scanning quality need to adjust their settings. Upon receipt of this AIO (all-in-one) I immediately set the employees
up with the task of scanning in 10 pages from 320 files. That comes out to 3,200 pages scanned. Every page had hole
punches in the top of the page. We fed the tops into the ADF even though the documentation said not to as the ADF
might jam. Many of the 3,200 pages were dog-eared, wrinkled, or otherwise imperfect. Over the course of 3,200 pages
we had 5 jams. (Jams are super simple to clear) That is simply unbelievably impressive.
All of the scanning was done wirelessly and it effortlessly sent the pdf''s to the computer we told it to. It scans into tiff''s,
pdf''s, jpeg''s, and more! You determine either at the time you scan or via the control panel how you want it to scan your job.
You pick the resolution and the format it''s saved into. This is true for the USB capabilities as well.
It can scan to an e-mail address, or a computer on the network.
It has it''s own e-mail capabilities. Once I set it up with an e-mail address of it''s own, I can scan anything and e-mail it
to anyone in the world, without using a computer.
The paper tray hold closer to 550 pages.
Although this is a B&W printer, it will scan and fax in color if you want it to.
The warranty is 1 year, but is an on-site warranty!
Pound for pound I don''t think there''s another MFC on the market that comes anywhere near this one at this price point. Originally I was just going to replace my HP with the newest model from HP. However, when I actually went to a store and looked at the HP models, I was highly unimpressed with the build quality. They felt cheap and had tiny touchscreens. I love that this printer retains physical buttons to navigate it''s menus and use it''s functions. The touchscreen works like a charm as well, but for heavy office use, I wanted physical buttons as well.
I''m sure if you''re still reading this, you probably think I''m a fanatic........and maybe I am. This MFC has made me a fanatic. I''m trying to save my personal pennies to buy one for my home. It''s overkill for my home, but it''s that awesome. It''s that well made. It''s that easy to use. It''s everything I could hope for in a MFC (save color printing capabilities, hence the Epson) and the supplies (i.e. toner, imaging drum, etc.) are cheap (when compared to competitors) and the high yield toner lasts forever! Someone stated that they can''t get the toner for this printer. I ordered an extra when I bought this and received it within days. I failed to mention how fast this dang thing is at printing. It is freaky fast at printing. Single-sided and double-sided.
If you have any questions, leave a comment and I''ll try and answer them.
Read Best Reviews of Brother Printer MFC8950DW Wireless Monochrome Printer Here
We have only just setup this printer, but have used other older models that are similar. It was a snap with windows XP and windows 7 PC''s. We don''t have windows server in our little environment.As we expected the brother network setup software installed quickly and easily on windows xp and 7. The drivers are lightweight, especially as compared to what comes with HP printers that stuff won''t fit on a CDROM, so they have to package it on DVD. We use wired networking and that setup was trivially easy. It just DHCP''d (automatic IP assignment) and that''s that.
One of the very nice things about the driver install it is registers your PC on the multifunction so you can scan to your computer from the unit. No relay race to place paper and run to your PC to start the scan. Nice! The scanning quality and paper handling is also quite good. Even though the printer is monochrome, the scanning is full color. The auto-feeder works well and so far is quite reliable. The legal size scanning is great.
We don''t use the FAX function on this unit, but the setup has been easy to perform in the past and looking over the instructions it appears the same on this unit.
Printing is quick and high quality. In one older brother model there were paper handling issues with #10 envelopes. Not with this one. Paper handling is great. The large paper tray is nice too.
On-printer controls are mostly on the relatively large touch screen. This is a big improvement from older models and I find it makes changing settings quick and easy.
I used to be a HP gal, but now I''ve been converted to a brother enthusiast.
Want Brother Printer MFC8950DW Wireless Monochrome Printer Discount?
Laser Multifunctions like this Brother are the Swiss Army Knives of small offices and businesses. Like most Brother printers and multifunction machines, this one is easy to set up, has good print quality and very reasonably priced toners, particularly with Brother Printer TN780 Super High Yield Toner Cartridge which gives 12000 pages, the cost per page is 0.91 cents, as of now. One of the least expensive laser printer costs per page. Works well as a fast printer, copier, fax machine and scanner.Setting this multifunction apart, in a sea of Brother and other multifuncion machines, are the following 3 things:
1. SPEED: fast print speed of 42 pp improves the efficiency of a busy office.
2. COLOR TOUCH SCREEN CONTROL: instead of hard to read monochrome menu trees nested within trees. Having multiple features in a machine is useful only if you can use the features easily and large color touch screen makes it easier to change settings so you can use more of the features.
3. PRINT FROM MOBILE DEVICES: using AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Brother iPrint&Scan, Cortado Workplace, and Wi-Fi Direct. I personally have not yet printed from any mobil device or Google Docs.
Although it is a network multifunction, when I hooked it up to a Windows SBS2011 server, the CD that came with the printer did not have drivers for the server! I got a screen message to download the drivers from Brother web site which has a lot of stuff like manuals, drivers etc. but very poorly organized with no clear explanations as to which driver is for which purpose. There was no driver for Windows SBS2011. On calling Brother technical support, they answered within 5 minutes (prompt by tech support standards) and Wilma told me that I needed to download Windows Server 2008R2 "Add Printer Wizard" driver and I was able to get at least the printer working with the server. Setting up Fax server and scanning server is even more complicated. Scanning and fax functions are easy to set up with a USB connection.
How can you sell an ethernet and a Wi-Fi multifunction and not send the network drivers with the machine? There is hodgepodge of software available for this machine on Brother''s web site but without much explanation as to what the software does and which driver to use for which machine. It is hard to figure out what to download.
If you get faxes on the computer, then Brother saves them in TIFF file format, not PDF. But software CD that comes with the machine also comes with Paperport 12 SE which you can use to convert TIFF to PDF files, but it is just an extra step and a hassle.
Except for these glitches, Brother 8950DW is one of the fastest and least expensive print per page cost multifunction machines out there and can be a workhorse for a small business.
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Compared to my old Brother 8840D, which I have been using for 8 years and still in good shape, 8950DW seems print twice as fast, and double-side printing as well as scanning are fast too. It is a little bit louder than 8840D but that is certainly not problem to me. One thing need to pay attention: at the very beginning I could not access the printer through WiFi even though I have successfully configured the WiFi network. Later I realized that it is the firewall (I''m using Bitdefender Total Securit"y 2013) that blocks the access. I had to disable "SNMP Status Enabled" checkbox from "Printer Properties" -> "Configure Port" -> "Port Settings" tab.
