We’ve reviewed multiple monochrome laser multifunction printers before on this blog. This product class, after all, is one of the most popular. Most people and businesses tend to need only monochrome printing. These are individuals and companies that mainly deal in text-based documents. For such a business, the Brother MFC-L6700DW would be an excellent option.
The Brother MFC-L6700DW is an incredibly durable monochrome laser multifunction printer that can handle high volumes at a very competitive running cost. This device also boasts of a very elaborate and useful feature set that should have something for everyone. Even so, you may want to see whether the Brother MFC-L6700DW is a good fit for your firm. Our review should help you make up your mind.
Strengths of Brother MFC-L6700DW
The Brother MFC-L6700DW will work for small-scale businesses as well as medium-sized companies. It has the paper handling capacity for both.
Smaller businesses should be more than satisfied with the standard total paper capacity of 550 sheets split between a 520-sheet paper tray and a 50-sheet multipurpose tray or bypass.
The add-ons can make this device suited for businesses with larger volume printing needs. There are options to increase the paper handling capacity of this device by either 250 sheets or 520 sheets with the addition of the optional paper tray. Therefore, there are three total paper handling capacities possible with the Brother MFC-L6700DW – 570 sheets, 820 sheets, and 1090 sheets.
The device has a 70-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) that allows for automatic duplexing. This is useful because it allows you to print on both sides of a page simultaneously and reduces paper costs by half.
The Brother MFC-L6700DW isn’t just capable of printing lots of documents but printing lots of documents fast. It is rated to print at a speed of 46 pages per minute (ppm). This is higher than most other devices from the same product segment in the market.
With high volume printers, you really need an affordable running cost or the monthly costs will really burgeon and make regular printing economically unviable. This is an area where the Brother MFC-L6700DW really excels. It offers one of the lowest per-page costs in the market across multiple product segments.
The running cost will be low with this device whether you use genuine cartridges or generic cartridges. However, using generic cartridges will make the running cost almost negligible. With cartridges manufactured by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), you’ll see a per-page cost of around 3.15 cents. Using generic cartridges will drop the per-page cost to as low as half a cent. That’s right. By using generic cartridges, you’ll get every document for only 0.5 cents.
The Brother MFC-L6700DW is also flexible in terms of the connectivity options it offers its users. You can connect to this device via four different channels – USB 2.0, Ethernet, wireless, and Wi-Fi Direct. While wireless connectivity makes it easy to share this device across six or more users, the Wi-Fi Direct option makes the device very useful for mobile-friendly offices.
You should note that Near-Field Communication (NFC) will not be an option and using the USB 2.0 connectivity option will take away mobile connectivity. Mobile connectivity means that this device will support Apple Air Print, Google Cloud Print, Mopria, and the OEM’s own Brother iPrint & Scan mobile app. The device is also compatible with mobile platforms such as One Note, One Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa.
The scanner on the Brother MFC-L6700DW is very accomplished as well. You’ll be able to scan your documents directly to a network folder, a USB drive, an FTP destination, a direct file, an image, an OCR, and even an email server or client.
Furthermore, the aforementioned ADF makes duplex scanning an option that can save tonnes of your time. The speed of scanning is useful too. The device can scan at a speed of 28 monochrome images per minute (ipm) and 20 colour ipm. While duplexing, though, these speeds go up to 56 and 34 ipm respectively.
Weaknesses of Brother MFC-L6700DW
The one thing that will make you hesitate from buying the Brother MFC-L6700DW is its cost. This device’s list price is a hefty $1393.33 but you may be able to get it for a much lower price if you shop around for discounts. You can probably get the MFC-L6700DW for as low as around $990.
The Brother MFC-L6700DW isn’t meant to be used for high-quality printing, only high-volume printing. This means that you shouldn’t expect amazing print output quality only satisfactory.
In other words, you’ll get superb text documents but will have to adjust in graphics and images. With a maximum resolution of 1200 x 1200 dots per inch (dpi), the MFC-L6700DW can deliver great documents with text that is crisp, clear, and legible.
If you try to print graphics, your expectations better be lower because you’ll come across colour gradient inconsistencies and even banding multiple places. If you plan on printing photos, you should do so without any expectations at all. Monochrome laser printers shouldn’t be expected to print photos anyway. It’s like expecting a fish to climb up a tree, pluck a ripe old mango, and help you eat it.
Another slight flaw of the Brother MFC-L6700DW is its size. Simply speaking, this is a big printer and you’ll have to make considerable space for it in your workplace. It measures about 518mm high, 427mm deep, and 495mm wide. You’ll have to use it as a standalone device because it weighs 17 Kg. All this shouldn’t surprise you really. With the kind of paper capacity the MFC-L6700DW is offering, you have to expect it to be on the cumbersome side.
Key Features of Brother MFC-L6700DW
Inside the housing of the Brother MFC-L6700DW, you’ll find its heart to comprise an 800 MHz Cortex A9 processor and 512MB standard memory. These two will combine to make this machine very responsive to your print command. From the moment you give the command, your device will take about 8.5 seconds to deliver the first page to you, provided it was in the ‘Ready’ mode. If it was in the ‘Sleep’ mode, you can expect this time to go up as high as 10 seconds.
The device is fairly standard in the kind of security features it offers. You’ll get the usual Secure Function Lock, the average Secure Print feature, the commonplace LDAP, and the everyday Active Directory Authentication. On the panel at the top, you’ll find the control panel. The main feature of the control panel is the intuitive LCD that spans 12.3cm. Other aspects of the control panel include an alphanumeric keypad, a Power button, a Return button, and a Home button.
You’ll get the Brother MFC-L6700DW with the standard OEM 1 year return to base warranty.