UPDATED AUGUST 2015 - SEE FINAL PARAGRAPH
After a lot of research (and dithering) I finally decided to get the Brother DCP-J132W printer, and so far I am glad I did. I will cover the set up procedure at the end of the review, as that is the most boring bit as far as I am concerned!
On the plus side, it is a nice looking uncluttered machine and is quite compact, the surface is a matt finish so unlike my previous extremely shiny Epson it doesn't show marks, and seems to attract less dust. The paper is loaded into an internal tray which slots into the front of the machine, so it avoids having a paper feed stuck up at the back. It uses four separate ink cartridges, which means you only have to replace them one at a time as each runs out, and the black cartridge is a bit bigger than the others, which seems sensible. Also, the cartridges are loaded into a compartment on the front of the machine so it is much easier to get at them. The machine can be left switched on permanently - after a few minutes it goes into a sleep mode, which allegedly uses almost no power, but means when you do want to print something it is ready almost instantly with none of the annoying and seemingly endless whirring and clattering noises that other machines make, until they decide to allow your print job to proceed, having wasted quantities of ink in the meantime. Printing itself is also comparatively quiet compared to my previous Epson, and the Canon that I had before that. All good so far.
On the downside, there is no automatic double sided printing option, so if you need this then think again - OK, you can print one page at a time and juggle with the paper tray which would be all right for very occasional use but not as a regular thing. On the same note, it would probably not be practical if you need to change the paper very often for printing photos, envelopes, etc. And for some reason the USB socket is inside the machine under the scanner bed - WHY???? It is not easy to find (even Brother seem to admit this, as they put a special sticker on the side of the machine to tell you where it is) and you then have to feed the USB lead out of the back via a special channel, so you might need a longer lead to allow for this (no USB lead is supplied by the way). SO, if a you might need to use a USB connection, beware. The only other adverse comment I have is that the lid for the scanner seems a bit wobbly and insecure when you open it, but this is because it has been designed to accept books for scanning if required, so a straightforward hinging mechanism would not be suitable. I now use both hands when opening the lid - problem sorted.
Now my thoughts about the set up procedure. Like almost any technological item now, the instructions are not particularly user friendly - do manufacturers ever road test their instructions on Joe Public before releasing them? You are provided with a Quick Start Guide which I actually found to be quite good as far as the mechanical stuff was concerned (unpacking, loading paper, loading cartridges etc). Once you have done all that, the machine goes into a cleaning process for several minutes (how did it get dirty in the first place?) and it then offers you a set-up wizard function on the LCD screen, so at that stage I abandoned the Quick Start Guide and went with the wizard. This takes you through various stages, like the date and time, and selecting your wireless network. Entering the password was a bit laborious as you only have a left or right arrow to select each character. It was then just a matter of installing the drivers as necessary. I have a laptop running on Windows 7 Professional, so went to that first as my other devices don't have a CD drive. In the end though I didn't use the CD but did a web search instead, in case the CD version had been updated. There was an option to make the printer available to all other devices on the network, which I selected. So, after about an hour all told, I was up and running, and printing from my laptop, MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone, all with no problem, and the print quality is good.
In summary then, I am very happy with this printer, but it might not suit if you want to use a USB connection, or to swap the paper supply regularly. I am still on the original supplied cartridges, but have got some non-Brother ones ready for when they run out - I will update this review once I have tried these out to confirm whether or not the printer accepted them.
UPDATE ADDED AUGUST 2015
Surprisingly, the supplied ink cartridges lasted about a year which is far longer than I expected given that they usually have much less ink in them than a standard cartridge. Anyway, I have now replaced all four with non-Brother cartidges, which I bought on eBay for under £1 each including delivery, and they installed with no problems at all. I have now been using them for a month or so and the print quality seems as good as the originals. Not sure if I would buy this printer again though, as on Amazon at least the price seems to have more tha doubled since I got mine for about £56 - shop around!!
| Print media | Paper (plain) |
|---|---|
| Display type | LCD |
| Compatible devices | Smartphones |
| Maximum colour print resolution | 6000 Pixels Per Inch |
| Sheet size | A4 |
| Product Dimensions | 41 x 37.39 x 16.1 cm; 7.76 kg |
| Item model number | DCPJ132WZU1 |
| Manufacturer | Brother |
| Wattage | 132 watts |
| Operating System | Android,Ios,Windows |
| Lithium Battery Packaging | Batteries contained in equipment |
| Lithium Battery Weight | 100 g |
| Item Weight | 7.76 kg |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
