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Brother MFC-1810 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £108
inc VAT

An impressive MFP for the money, but its high running costs are disappointing

Brother’s MFC-1810 is a budget multifunction printer (MFP) based on the entry-level HL-1110 mono laser printer. Like the HL-1110, this is a no-frills product with only a single paper input tray, no automatic duplex (double-sided) printing and no network support. It does, however, provide useful features such as a built-in fax machine and a 10-page automatic document feeder (ADF).

Brother MFC-1810

The MFC-1810 doesn’t feel cheap, but at this price there are inevitable compromises. The hinges for the scanner lid are sturdy, but they don’t extend upwards to let the lid close flat on thicker originals. The paper input tray is a basic, 150-page item with no cover, so dust could build up on the top sheet over idle periods.

More significantly, the printer’s paper guides adjust only between A4 and letter widths, ruling out alternative paper sizes including A5. The short paper output tray is completed by a two-part paper stop which folds into place, but you need to lift the scanner bed out of the way to get it up or down.

The MFC-1810 is swift, reaching 17.4 pages per minute (ppm) when printing text, and 16.2ppm in our more demanding mixed graphics test. Print quality of text was good, but less so for graphics. There was some banding despite well-judged exposure, and some fairly crude half-toning patterns visible in lighter areas. Photos had the same issues, but generally looked better.

Brother MFC-1810 Print Driver

Brother’s clear, simple print driver is easy to use

The MFC-1810’s scanner was slightly slow at low resolutions, taking 17 seconds to produce a preview or 18 seconds to scan an A4 page at 150 or 300 dots per inch (dpi). It was more competitive at higher resolutions, though, with a 1,200dpi photo scan taking just 28 seconds. The results were more than good enough for everyday office work and archiving. Our only criticism is that colours were a touch over-saturated. By default, photocopies were a touch too dark.

Brother MFC-1810 TWAIN Preset Resolutions

The TWAIN scan interface offers only preset resolutions, but the choice includes all the ones we’d want

One thing we aren’t keen on, is the MFC-1810’s running costs. Each page will cost 2.7p even if you never have to replace the drum, while inclusive running costs are 3.2p per page.

With a decent set of features and swift, reasonably good results, this is an impressive MFP for anyone looking to set up a home office on a very tight budget. It’s unfortunate that its print costs are so high. Anyone expecting to print in high volumes should consider spending more on a better printer with lower costs, such as the Kyocera FS-C2026MFP+, or an inkjet alternative such as Epson WorkForce WF-3540DTWF.

Basic Specifications

Rating****
Maximum native print resolution600x600dpi
Max optical resolution600×1,200dpi
Output bit depth24-bit

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A420ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two greyscale 10x8in photos 1.127s
Time for six greyscale 6x4in photos 1.020s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size255x385x340mm
Weight8.2kg
Noise (in normal use)51dB(A)

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA4/legal
Maximum paper weight105gsm
Standard paper inputs1
Standard paper input capacity150
Maximum paper inputs1
Maximum paper input capacity150
Duplex (code, cost if option)Yes

General

Printer technologymono laser
Language(s)host-based
Supported operating systemsWindows XP or later, Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, Linux, CUPS, LPD/LPRng
Maximum printer memory16MB
Other laser features and optionsTwo line mono LCD

Buying Information

Price£108
Consumable parts and prices£27.43
Price of 2nd paper cassetteN/A
Warrantyone year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.printerbase.co.uk
Detailswww.brother.co.uk

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview17s
A4 document at 150dpi18s
A4 document at 300dpi18s
6x4in photo at 600dpi26s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi28s

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.022s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.01m 8s

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies99

Fax Features

Fax memory (maximum mono pages)400