To facilitate your life, the option of owning a laser multifunction is very attractive. We selected four economical models for this article at less than 500 euros. This is “entry level” and most are monochrome. There is only one exception, where HP has succeeded in offering a color printer at the same price as the competition’s monochrome printers. In addition, it isn't the most expensive of the lot. It is also interesting to note that these multifunctions are basically as expensive as entry level monofunction laser printers.
Impressive autonomy
Why choose such a product? To avoid changing the cyan, black, and red cartridge every other morning, to have better transfer rates, a product really conceived for professional use and adapted to this area.
As for consumables, the autonomy of these laser multifunctions has nothing to do with their inkjet equivalents. In this domain one of the best references is the Canon Pixma MP600R, a network model with separated cartridges. The black cartridge is particularly long lasting and according to our tests, its autonomy is approximately 415 pages with 5% ink coverage and continuous prints. With the automatic print head cleaning cycle, this volume can be reduced by 10% for moderate and normal use. There are even more long lasting products for A4 monofunction. We recently tested the HP Photosmart D7350: it goes up to 520 pages. This is most impressive but it is still far from the autonomy of these laser multifunctions which all reach over 3500 pages (our results). The best product is the Lexmark x342n at 6000 pages! Individual users, artisans, independent professionals and even small work groups probably won't change a cartridge before at least a year or they maybe never will.
The tests
Ergonomics, noise level, autonomy, speed, quality, all aspects have been taken into account . We tested all printer modes (draft, normal, high quality and even photos), scanner (with scans from 75 to 1200 ppp, even if we have only reported tests made at 300 ppp) and copy – normal and enlargements.
Autonomy was measured with monochromes prints, 5% ink coverage and continuous prints. The costs resulting from this test is raw cost based on the toner’s usual price in online stores. It doesn't take into account other consumables such as the drum whose autonomy is generally much higher.
As usual, in the following pages we have extracts of pages printed by the models tested and two videos for each printer: - The first one in the next page will give you an idea of the noise level of each product: initialization, taking one sheet of paper, printing and extracting the print. There really is nothing like it! - the second extract is dedicated to the replacement procedure of toner for each printer. All in all, it is rather simple, but here again some are easier than others.
Note: we contacted most manufacturers for this test. Those included in this article were the only ones to respond, and there weren't too many.
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Noise level
Noise levels
Once more, this is a parameter that really needs to be taken into account. If the laser multifunction is in the same room, listen to the videos below:
As the videos show, the Canon and HP produces noticeably less noise than the two others. You also may have noticed that the HP’s transfer rate is much more than its competitors.
In short, if you want a fast and quiet printer, choose the Canon.
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Office quality: color accuracy
Office use: color accuracry and precision
Original graph, black version
Original graph, color version
X3 enlargement N&B
X3 color enlargement
Original text
Original agrandi X3
Brother MFC-8860DN
Brother MFC-8860DN
Canon i-sensys MF4140
Canon i-sensys MF4140
HP CM1015 MFP color mode
HP CM1015 MFP color mode
HP CM1015 MFP monochrome mode
HP CM1015 MFP monochrome mode
Lexmark x342n
Lexmark x342n
HP has an enormous advantage as it is the only one to have color cartridges even if its monochrome rendering has a bit too much contrast. Even the colored print is a bit darker than usual. Also it suffers from blacks slightly leaking into colors, as we see on the border between the yellow and black.
In the black version, the best printer is the Lexmark. Then comes the Brother, Canon and finally HP.
Another aspect to take into consideration is the transfer rate, which we will measure shortly. Just to give you an idea, Lexmark is really the fastest, while Canon and Brother are next and HP is once more far behind (this result corresponds with the product characteristics). In color and in black, the print rate is 8 ppm and three times higher for the competition. It is up to you to set your priorities, will it be in color or print rate?
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Photo quality
Photo
The quality of laser printers often surprises users. Even if most of the printers tested here are monochrome, the accuracy of the prints is often much better than its reputation. It is so accurate that we could even imagine printing illustrated reports or even photos or – if color is available – constitute a sort of "photo book".
Original photo
X3 enlargement
Brother MFC-8860DN
Canon i-sensys MF4140
HP CM1015 MFP
Lexmark x342n
This page shows pretty much similar results to the office tests. The addition of color changes everything. It isn't new, but it is particularly obvious when all results are displayed side by side. However, we need to point out that the HP print isn't exceptional compared to the results of monofonction laser color printers tested a few months ago. The saturation is a bit too strong and it hardens the picture. Nevertheless it is much better than in black.
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Scanner precision
Precision of the scanner
Original picture
X3 enlargement
Brother MFC-8860DN
Canon i-sensys MF4140
HP CM1015 MFP
Lexmark x342n
This next test is the quality of the scanner. In short, scanners aren't that great and these are rather bad entry level products. If you are planning on scanning products regularly, avoid the HP. In addition to providing images with overly strong outlines and saturated colors, it is excessively slow as you can see in the next page.
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Print rate, scanner, copy
Print rate
Each printer precisely delivers the number of pages announced in the characteristics. The only gap measured is for the Brother. They announce 28ppm and this is in fact 29 ppm. It is really appreciable to have peripherals that really match their specifications…
Scanner speed
At 300p, the gaps are quite significant, but the more complicated the task, the bigger the gaps are. At 1200 ppp, HP needs 84 seconds to scan a simple stamp, whereas Brother and Lexmark only need 18 seconds.
Copy
The copy is logically a combination of print and scan modes. As HP is the slowest for printing and scanning, it ends up logically in last place.
In this domain printers are approximately 30% slower than for printing only. The wining trio is the same but Canon is behind Lexmark and Brother. However, it would be harsh to complain about a print rate of only 17 pages per minute.
We are pleasantly surprised by these results which are quite honourable.
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Autonomy and cost per page
Autonomy and cost per page
Autonomy tests for laser printers aren't easy. They are long and noisy but this is where they are really interesting. There were a couple of surprises, but the good news is that they were good. Unlike inkjet printers whose claimed autonomies are very optimistic, laser toners are really modest. For example, the Canon’s delivered twice as many pages than announced. We counted 4,000 pages instead of the 2,000 announced with a 5% ink coverage. HP gave better results than expected as well (we remind you that HP and Canon are more than just partners in the laser market). They aren't as great as Canon's but they are still very interesting and quite reassuring. We might have thought that HP would try to make up for the presence of color by high priced consumables but it isn't the case. Finally, Brother and Lexmark kept their promises.
Here are now the autonomy results compiled with costs and there is another surprise. The longer lasting cartridge, which we thought would have been the cheapest, is finally – and by far – the most expensive to use. Printing with Lexmark costs a lot more than with Canon and Brother who are almost at the same level. HP also provides good results and this is good news for those who expected something else because of they offer color.
As for HP, we are sorry to say that we didn’t measure the autonomy of color cartridges because of the lack of consumables. This could only have been achieved with a great number of consumables because of the restrictions when one cartridge hits the end of its life. We didn't have the three sets of cartridges required for this test.
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Brother MFC-8860DN
Brother MFC-8860DN
Brother’s all-in-one has mainly three strong points. It has a very big document loader (really handy for multi-page faxes) and copies and it is quick and cheap to use. The printing quality doesn’t suffer from the last two parameters. Monochrome conversions are quite accurate and better than HP and Lexmark. If we take a closer look at the characters, their shape is a bit more precise and prominent than the others. This is at least what we see from our enlargements. From a reasonable distance, 20cm from our eyes, it is perfect and really precise.
The high print rate and mechanical components, however, are quite loud. The MFC-8060 is noisier than the HP and Canon and if you are sensitive in this area we don’t recommend it.
As for other disadvantages, there is also the mediocre scanner. As soon as a shade is a bit dark, it is assimilated as black. This is true for the scanning quality and also for copies.
Finally, it’s big. The Lexmark is nevertheless even bigger, partly because of the document loader. The Canon and HP models are smaller but they do not have this really handy function.
We tested the Canon i-Sensys MF4140, but because of the price gap with the 4150, we recommend using the second. 30 euros and a 35 pages document loader distinguish the first one and for faxes and copies it is much better to choose the version with the loader!
Tests show that the MF4140 is a well balanced model. It’s economical, quick and silent (!). Even if the scanner isn’t that great, we have to say that it is the least worst and the fastest. This is a multifunction without specific defaults, except maybe that compared to the HP it is restricted to monochrome prints. It is also the cheaper to use thanks to its longer lasting cartridges (twice as many prints as expected). Canon announced 2,000 pages and we have reached twice as many with an ink coverage rate of 5%. It is surprising but true!
Two practical points make this printer stand out. There is the all in one cartridge that simplifies the management of consumables and the two sided printing mode.
If the HP wouldn't have been included in this test, the MF4140 would have been our favourite. The silence/economy/high print rate combination would have won. The thing is that the addition of color is really handy and decisive in numerous situations. The next step is already there, the era of color in entry level multifunctions.
The CM1015 doesn't have a document loader (even optional) but it has color cartridges. The network option is optional and quite expensive at 150 euros. For this amount of money, some will probably prefer sharing the printer with one computer even if it means never shutting it down.
We strongly insist on the color option, and it is true that it changes everything. Even if we know that the others are all monochromes, when we compare results the HP ends up unavoidably in the lead. It looks much better and documents are easier to read. Nevertheless, if you want to save money, you can also choose to set standard parameters to monochrome. This mode isn't faster (it is in fact the slowest) but it can be very handy and much cheaper.
Before getting to the downsides of this model, we have to come back to one of its qualities, it is quiet... at least relatively speaking and compared to other multifunctions tested. As you can see in the below video, the access to consumable is even easier than for other monochrome models.
The HP has several downsides: it is three times slower than other models and the scanner is really slow and mediocre (it is almost always the case for HP). Scans are more approximate than with other devices and copies are slower and less accurate. You can't have it all…
It is fast, it has a network connection, a document loader and a fax… but the thing is that its is noisy and not really economical. We sincerely hoped that the 6,000 page toner, three times longer lasting than others, would be the most economical but it isn't. The cost per page is almost twice that of Canon and they aren’t even printed better.
In terms of the scanning function, the Lexmark produces images that are too soft at first. The shades tend to turn to pastel. Nevertheless, if you are looking for the best quality possible, a small correction with Photoshop in color level will product a much better result.
The introduction of color for entry level products is really decisive and it gives an enormous advantage to the HP CM1015. Documents are printed much easier to read. It has nevertheless a couple of downsides, mainly its slowness.
In the end, it is quite easy to choose. Are you prepared to have a print rate of 8 ppm instead of 20 to 30 ppm for competitors and to leave the document loader aside to have color pages? If you do, do you want to print with the network option (CM1017), or without (share the printer with USB for example)? The price gap between the two models is 150€.
If speed is of outmost important for you and you are looking for a better use of consumables because you are planning on printing an important quantity of documents, the Canon will be the best choice. We like the two sided printing mode and the possibility to choose the version with the document loader (MF4150). It is really handy if you want to send fax with quite a few pages, or copying several documents.
