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Brother MFC-L2750DW Review

Fairly economical choice if you need an all-in-one and print in high volumes
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Price:   $300 List | $230 at Amazon
Pros:  Inexpensive for an all-in-one, low operating costs
Cons:  Relatively poor printing quality
Manufacturer:   Brother
By Max Mutter and Steven Tata  ⋅  Oct 25, 2016
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57
OVERALL
SCORE

RANKED
#8 of 16
  • Text Quality - 25% 5
  • Operating Cost - 25% 7
  • Ease of Use - 20% 5
  • Graphics and Photos - 15% 4
  • Printing Speed - 15% 7

Our Verdict

The Brother MFC-L2750DW is an all-in-one monochrome laser that combines printing, scanning, copying, and faxing capabilities. It renders medium-quality text, has fairly low operating costs, and a list price that is reasonable considering its multi-functionality. This is a good option for someone who needs the versatility of an all-in-one, does not want to shell out the extra money for our Editors' Choice Award winner, and doesn't mind making some small sacrifices in printing speed and graphics quality.


Compare to Similar Products

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This Product
Brother MFC-L2750DW
Awards  Editors' Choice Award  Editors' Choice Award Top Pick Award 
Price $300 List
$230.00 at Amazon		$400 List
$349.99 at Amazon		$300 List
$298.99 at Amazon		$430 List
$349.00 at Amazon		$270 List
$149.99 at Amazon
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Pros Inexpensive for an all-in-one, low operating costsExcellent text quality, fast, great interface, easy setupGreat text and graphics quality, great interfaceGreat text and graphics quality, great interfaceExcellent text quality and speed, simple
Cons Relatively poor printing qualityVery large, expensiveRelatively slow for a laserCan be expensive, relatively slow for a laserPoor graphics
Bottom Line Fairly economical choice if you need an all-in-one and print in high volumesA great choice for small offices that print a lot, but overkill for most at home usersA great model if you want high end performance and don't need a built-in scannerGreat balance of functionality and quality for any home officePerfect if you print a lot of text and don't need wireless connectivity
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Rating Categories Brother MFC-L2750DW Brother HL-L8360CDW HP Color LaserJet... Color LaserJet Pro... HP LaserJet Pro...
Text Quality (25%)
10
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5
10
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9
10
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9
10
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9
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9
Operating Cost (25%)
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7
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5
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6
Ease Of Use (20%)
10
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5
10
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9
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9
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9
10
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5
Graphics And Photos (15%)
10
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4
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6
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6
10
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2
Printing Speed (15%)
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7
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9
Specs Brother MFC-L2750DW Brother HL-L8360CDW HP Color LaserJet... Color LaserJet Pro... HP LaserJet Pro...
Type All-in-one monochrome laser Single function color laser Single function color laser All-in-one color laser Single function monochrome laser
Capabilities Print, Scan, Fax, Copy Print Print Print, Scan, Fax, Copy Print
Resolution (Black) 2400 x 600 2400 x 600 600 x 600 600 x 600 1200 x 1200
Resolution (Color) N/A 2400 x 600 600 x 600 600 x 600 N/A
Supported Paper Sizes Letter, Legal, Executive, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, Envelopes Letter, Envelope, Custom Sizes (3.0-8.5" (w), 5.0-14" (l)), Legal, Executive, A4, A5, A6 A4, A5(L), A5(P), A6, B5, B6, 16k, 10 x 15 cm, Post Cards (JIS); Envelopes (DL, C5, B5) A4, A5(L), A5(P), A6, B5, B6, 16k, 10 x 15 cm, Post Cards (JIS); Envelopes (DL, C5, B5) A4, A5, A6, B5 (JIS), Custom Size, A5-R, B6 (JIS),
Dimensions (excludes extensions) 16.1" x 15.7" x 12.5" 17.4" x 19.1" x 12.3" 15.4" x 16.4" x 9.3" 16.5" x 16.4" x 12.7" 15" x 14.1" x 8.5"
Weight (lbs) 25.8 lb 48.1 lb 27 lb 35.9 lb 18.92 lb
Paper Handling Input (sheets) 250 sheets 300 sheets 150 sheets 150 sheets 250 sheets
Monthly Duty Cycle 10000 sheets 60,000 Sheets 30000 sheets 30000 sheets 80000 sheets
2-Sided Printing Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Warranty 1 Year Limited 1 Year Limited 1 Year Limited 1 Year Limited 1 Year Limited
Ink Cost per Ream: B/W $12.92 $8.89 $14.46 $14.46 $15.48
Ink Cost per Ream: Color N/A $47.63 $56.09 $56.09 N/A
Estimated Lifetime Cost of Ownership $494 $550 $642 $768 $532
Claimed Pages Per Minute 36 33 22 22 40
Measured Pages per Minute: Single-Sided B/W 18 16 15 14 25
Connectivity WiFi, USB 2.0, 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet WiFi, Ethernet, USB 2.0, NFC WiFi, USB 2.0, 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet, Walkup host USB WiFi, USB 2.0, 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet, Front Host USB USB 2.0; 1 Host USB; 1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000T network
Operating System Compatability Windows/Mac OS Windows/Mac OS Windows/Mac OS Windows/Mac OS Windows/Mac OS
Google Cloud Print Yes Yes No No Yes

Our Analysis and Test Results

We like the MFC-L2750DW as an all-in-one monochrome laser printer that won't leave a hole in your wallet. Though it wasn't a leader in any of our tests it still performed well as an all-around multifunction printer.

Performance Comparison



Text Quality


The MFC-L2750DW scored a 5 on our text quality test. This made it decidedly mediocre, as scores in this metric fell between 3 and 8. Characters produced by the MFC-L2470DW looked somewhat inconsistent. Most areas looked dark and bold, but they were interspersed with tiny white blotches that reduced the overall clarity, This text was still much crisper than the lower scoring models, but lacked some of the precision of text from the top scorers.

Text produced by the MFC-L2740DW lacked some of the precision we would have expected from a monochrome laser.
Text produced by the MFC-L2740DW lacked some of the precision we would have expected from a monochrome laser.

Operating Cost


The MFC-L2750DW garnered a 7 in our cost testing. This put it on the top step of the podium, along with two other printers, and well distanced from the low score of 2. This was mostly due to its economical use of ink, producing black and white documents at about $0.03 per page or $12.92 per ream of paper. The MFC-L2750DW also has a fairly low retail price, which gave it a reasonable estimated lifetime cost of $425. This was one of the most inexpensive lifetime costs we calculated, and was far and away the lowest for an all-in-one printer.

Ease of Use


The MFC-L2750DW earned a 5 in our ease of use testing. This put it towards the bottom of a metric that had scores ranging from 4 to 9. It was easy to set up USB printing, but our testers had some issues with the initial setup of the wireless connectivity. After much troubleshooting we ended up resetting our wifi networks a couple of times and finally it connected. This was a last ditch effort, as resetting the wifi network was not suggested in the user manual or in our numerous calls to the customer service line. This is where the MFC-L2750 lost most of its ease of use points. Otherwise, the MFC-L2750DW's interface was fairly well designed. The large touchscreen makes for easy navigation of all the printing and scanning capabilities, and Brother's web connected apps. There is even a nifty setting that allows you to easily scan both sides of a license or other ID card and print both on the same sheet of paper. It also includes a bypass tray for printing odd stock, and an up to 35-page automatic document feeder. Surprisingly, it lacks a dedicated USB port for printing directly from a flash drive. We found this absence on a model as featured as the MFC-L2750DW. Like most of the all-in-ones we tested, we found the MFC-L2750DW to be well designed and pleasant to use if you don't mind connecting via a USB cable, but it was particularly ornery if connecting via wifi.

The MFC-L2740DW's touchscreen is well designed.
The MFC-L2740DW's touchscreen is well designed.

Graphics/Photos


Being a black and white laser printer, you can't expect much from the MFC-L2750DW in terms of graphics and photo quality. Unsurprisingly it scored a 4 in our testing, putting it towards the bottom of a metric that had scores ranging from 2 to 7. It performed better than the other monochromes lasers, but that is about all that can be said for it. Simple graphics had a decent quality, but still looked quite pixelated and blurry around the edges when compared to color models. Photos had poor resolution with many noticeable print lines breaking up the image. Overall the MFC-L2750DW would be acceptable for occasional graphics, but its lack of quality would be distracting if you often print documents with multiple photos.

Printing Speed


The MFC-L2750DW scored a 7 in our printing speed testing. This represented an average score in a metric that saw scores falling between 2 and 9. It printed at a rate of 18 pages per minute in the all important single sided text document test. This fell between the low and high speeds of 6 and 25 pages per minute. Its speed was cut in half to 9 pages per minute when printing double-sided. Unless printing speed is your main concern, you won't be disappointed by the pace of the MFC-L2750DW.

The MFC-L2740DW's monochrome laser printing technology is not optimized for graphics and text.
The MFC-L2740DW's monochrome laser printing technology is not optimized for graphics and text.

Value


The MFC-L2750DW lists for $300 and, at the time of this writing, could be found online for up to $100 less. This is relatively cheap for an all-in-one model. However, you do make sacrifices in comparison to other all-in-ones in terms of ease of use and graphics quality. Because of these sacrifices, we feel the MFC-L2750DW is an average value.


Conclusion


The MFC-L2750DW is a reasonably priced all-in-one that is relatively economical in the long run. If you're looking for the full functionality of an all-in-one and are on a budget this is a decent choice. However, spending a little bit more can get you the much better graphics quality and color printing of the HP Color LaserJet Pro M281fdw.


— Max Mutter and Steven Tata