Brother MFC-J4335DW Review
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
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Brother MFC-J4335DW | |||||
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Awards | ![]() | ![]() | |||
Price | $180 List $149.98 at Amazon | $220 List $109.99 at Amazon | $120 List $119.99 at Amazon | $85 List $84.99 at Amazon | $125 List $89.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score ![]() |
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Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Mulptiple connectivity options, compact and small size, great operating cost with a moderate initial purchase price | Sturdy, well-built, awesome interface, strong all-around performance | Compact design, good printing speed and quality | Low purchase price, compact size, consistent performance | Small size, good graphic and photo quality for its price class |
Cons | Mediocre photo, graphic, text quality, display screen, and user interface | Lacks duplex scanning, proprietary ink only | Very limited connectivity (no WiFi or Ethernet and it doesn't come with a USB cable) | Expensive operating costs, manual duplex printing | Expensive operating cost, no duplex printing, inconsistent quality for print jobs, HP ink cartridges only |
Bottom Line | A cost efficient printer that makes a great pick for casual home use but isn't the best option for high quality document or photo needs | A strong all-around printer where photo and graphic printing, cost efficiency, user interface, and print speed all score high | This printer does a stellar job at high-speed monochrome document printing, but lacks connectivity options, making it less versatile and convenient | A very accessible entry cost and solid performance across the board make this printer a great pick, but its long-term operational costs offset some initial savings | A simple, small printer that excels at photos, but is costly to operate |
Rating Categories | Brother MFC-J4335DW | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother HL-L2300D | HP DeskJet 2755e | HP DeskJet 4155e |
Text Quality (25%) | |||||
Operating Cost (25%) | |||||
Ease of Use (20%) | |||||
Graphics and Photos (15%) | |||||
Printing Speed (15%) | |||||
Specs | Brother MFC-J4335DW | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother HL-L2300D | HP DeskJet 2755e | HP DeskJet 4155e |
Type | all-in-one inkjet | all-in-one inkjet | laser | all-in-one inkjet | all-in-one inkjet |
Capabilities | print, scan, copy, fax | print, scan | print, scan, copy | print, scan, copy, fax | |
Resolution (Black) | unspecified | 4800 x 2400 | 2400 x 600 | 1200 x 1200 | 1200 x 1200 |
Resolution (Color) | 1200 × 2400 | 4800 x 2400 | 2400 x 600 | 4800 x 1200 | 4800 x 1200 |
Supported Paper Sizes | 4 x 6, 5 x 7, Letter, Legal, U.S. #10 Envelopes | 3.5"x5", 4"x6", 5"x7", 8"x10", Letter, Legal, A4, A6, Half Letter, Executive, user-definable (3.5"–47.2"L), Oficio 9; 8.5"x13"; Mexico Oficio | Tray 1: A4; A5; A6; B5 (JIS); Oficio (216 x 340 mm); 16K (195 x 270 mm); 16K 16K (197 x 273 mm); Japanese Postcard; Double Japan Postcard Rotated; Envelope #10; Envelope Monarch; Envelope B5; Envelope C5; Envelope DL; Custom Size; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 8 in; Statement; Tray 2 & Tray 3: A4; A5; A6; B5 (JIS); Oficio (216 x 340 mm); 16K (195 x 270 mm); 16K (184 x 260 mm); 16K (197 x 273 mm); Custom Size; A5-R; 4 x 6 in; B6 (JIS) | Letter; legal; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 7 in; 8 x 10 in; No. 10 envelopes, Letter: 16 to 32 lb; HP envelopes: 20 to 24 lb; HP cards: up to 110 lb; HP 4 x 6 inch photo paper: up to 145 lb | Letter, Legal, Executive, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6 |
Dimensions (excludes extensions) | 17.7" x 12" x 6" | 16.7" x 15.3" x 10.9" | 16.54" x 15.35" x 12.72" | 16.7" x 12" x6" | 14.0" x 14.2" x 7.2" |
Weight (lbs) | 11.9 Ib | 22.5Ib | 27.78 lb | 7.7 Ib | 15Ib |
Paper Handling Input (sheets) | 100 sheets plain paper or 20 sheet 4 x 6″ photo paper | 250 sheets | 100-sheet tray 1, 250-sheet input tray 2; 50-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) | 60 | 250 sheets |
Monthly Duty Cycle | 30,000 | 33,000 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
2-Sided Printing | yes | yes | yes | yes (manual, no duplex printing) | yes (manual, no duplex printing) |
Ink Cost per Ream: B/W | $5.50 | $28.56 | $16.66 | $49.98 | $66.63 |
Ink Cost per Ream: Color | $7.83 | $13.40 | NA | $62.48 | $84.95 |
Estimated Lifetime Cost of Ownership | $249 | $583 | $410 | $872 | $1,174 |
Claimed Pages Per Minute | 20 | 25 (black) or 12 (color) | 27 | 7.5 (black) 5.5 (color) |
20 |
Measured Pages per Minute: Single-Sided B/W | 11 | 10 | 22 | 4 | 8 |
Connectivity | WiFi, Ethernet, USB 2.0 | WiFi, Ethernet, USB 2.0 | USB 2.0 - no wireless connection | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n; 1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n with Bluetooth® 4.2; 1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 |
Operating System Compatability | Linux Linux Mac macOS (12) macOS (11) macOS (10.15) macOS (10.14) Windows 11 Windows 10 Windows 10 Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 Windows 7 SP1 Windows 7 SP1 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2008 |
Windows® 10, Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista® (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Server® 2003 SP27 — Windows Server 20197 Mac® OS X® 10.6.8 — macOS® 10.15.x8 | Windows Server® 2008 R2 Mac OS X 10.7.x, 10.8.x, 10.9.x Windows® XP Home Edition Windows® XP Professiona |
Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 7; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina; macOS 11 Big Sur; Chrome OS | Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 7; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina; macOS 11 Big Sur; Chrome OS |
Google Cloud Print | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Brother MFC-J4335DW is the printer you want if size, speed, and cost are your main priorities. This little thing can pump out 11 simplex pages per minute, is fairly easy to set up and use, has low operating and lifetime costs, and produces decent quality text and images. The MFC-J4335DW stands out as one of the best budget machines in our lineup, perfect for those consumers who print a lot but don't need those prints to be top-notch.
Performance Comparison
Text Quality
Despite its overall ranking and accolades, the Brother MFC-J4335DW performed the worst in our text quality assessment. We saw small and thin fonts lose clarity during our test prints and lighter shades in the grayscale printed faintly. Though not terrible, it is worth considering that the MFC-J4335DW will not be a great printer for offices that need consistently high-quality text output.
While the MFC-J4335DW under-performs here compared to the others in our best home printer review, we still think it's a great buy for someone whose top priority for a printer is not print quality. Its strength is not any one thing that it does a stellar job at, but the overall budget package that it provides.
Operating Cost
The MFC-J4335DW shines in this category. Its initial buy-in price is relatively low, and its overall operating and lifetime costs are stellar compared to the other printers in our lineup.
A ream (500 pages) of black and white printed text will only cost you $5.50 with this printer. The next best printer for this metric in our lineup had monochrome ink costs of more than double the MFC-J4335DW, at $11.25 per ream. That's significant savings.
The MFC-J4335DW's color cost per ream is also among the best in our lineup, at around $7.83 per. While quality is lacking compared to other printers that we tested, this is a great option if you print a lot and don't need every print to be perfect.
The MFC-J4335DW is best in its class for overall estimated lifetime costs, at around $250 per three years of ownership. That's half the cost of any other printer we tested and why we think this printer can be such a good buy for the consumer whose top priority is budget.
Many of the other printers in our lineup appear to be a good deal at first glance, but their lifetime operating costs make owning one very costly.
Ease of Use
The MFC-J4335DW teases with a very easy initial setup and ink cartridge loading mechanism; however, its WiFi and interface are not the simplest to engage with. Its low weight and small size — clocking in around 20 pounds — make the MFC-J4335DW very versatile in terms of room placement.
Once in place, however, the WiFi setup becomes a bit of a chore, requiring the download of two separate computer programs and one mobile app. Even with these extra steps, we never experienced any glitches or hiccups, and once we loaded everything properly, there were no connection issues whatsoever. We tested out Brother's customer service through their website and found it very helpful, quick, and easy to use. The actual physical printer controls come in the form of a small screen and a few buttons. We had some issues with the fax setting not immediately turning off, but otherwise, the controls were straightforward once we got past the initial learning curve.
Overall, the MFC-J4335DW performed fairly well compared to all other printers in our lineup. Even as a budget model, this printer presents an impressive monthly duty cycle — the number of pages you can print per month without any maintenance issues. We found the hiccups we experienced to be minor compared to other machines that we tested and not strong enough detractors to deter one from purchasing this printer.
Graphics/Photos
Like its text quality performance, the MFC-J4335DW does just okay with printing graphics and photos. While the general resolution of images was quite sharp, contrasty business graphics often contained blurry text. Photo quality was always good but never stood out in the pack. Color quality is above average, and the color band it can display is quite wide.
However, we noticed some pinkish tinting on parts of white or very light images. Printed images also appeared slightly less saturated than their original counterpart. It's worth noting that despite its limitations, the MFC-J4335DW performed well compared to the rest of our lineup. It was not the worst performer in this metric and can print average quality photos and graphics. We think the consumer that will find this printer most valuable will not be prioritizing photo and graphic quality.
Printing Speed
The MFC-J4335DW performed very well for an inkjet in the printing speed test, clocking in at eight duplex and 11 simplex pages per minute.
While not the best of the best, these are very respectable times compared to the rest of our lineup and the market in general.
The MFC-J4335DW stands out because the next fastest printer in our lineup has nearly double the estimated lifetime cost. While not lightning quick, the speed it demonstrates at its price point is fantastic.
Should You Buy the Brother MFC-J4335DW?
Although it's not the fastest printer and doesn't necessarily offer the best text or photo quality, or the perfect user interface, the MFC-J4335DW still presents a great overall value. Its performance per dollar is stellar compared to the other printers in our lineup. We think consumers who print a lot but don't need those prints to be perfect — like students or a home office — this model is a fantastic option in an affordable package.
What Other Printers Should You Consider?
The Brother MFC-J4335DW is one of the best bang-for-your-buck printers in our lineup, but it isn't the best performing model we tested. The award-winning Canon Color imageCLASS MF741Cdw certainly presents the best-of-the-best printers offer. But a model like the Epson Workforce Pro WF-4820 significantly improves text, graphics, and photo quality without breaking the bank.
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