World's first multifunction A3 printer by Brother

By Leonard Goh, CNET Asia
Oct 31, 2008

In the already saturated inkjet printer market, it can be difficult to distinguish one printer from another. But Brother's latest lineup sure did make us sit up and take notice. Keeping in line with its focus for this year, the company's inkboxes are targeted at the small and medium enterprise users.

Traditionally, A3 inkjet printers are associated with professional photo printing or industrial use, but the Japanese company has introduced three such machines meant for small businesses. What really caught our attention was that the machines can not only print up to A3-size sheets, they can also fax, copy and scan in A3 dimensions. Its flagship model, the Professional series MFC-6490CW an automatic document feeder (ADF) and wireless networking capability that office users will appreciate. Besides this unit, there is also a range of A3 printers with different features such as touchscreen LCD for navigating and operating the inkbox.

The MFC-6490CW is Brother's flagship A3 multifunction printer.
(click for more information)

Brother is hoping that its A3 printers can lighten the load of small businesses such as architectural firms and marketing companies which occasionally need to print larger collaterals or floor plans. This can help cut costs and save time by printing in-house instead of outsourcing the job. Size-wise, it is significantly bigger than conventional A4 multifunction printers but can still fit on desktop.

For home offices, Brother has updated its lineup with six new A4 multifunction printers. Entry-level models such as the DCP-385C has a 3.3-inch color LCD for previewing print jobs and is suitable for light users who don't require a fax function. The higher-end MFC-490CW and MFC-5490CM have network connectivity options and ADF to target the multi-user office environment with heavier print loads.

What we think was a thoughtful touch is the company bundling its A3 printers with high-yield ink cartridges rather than the standard ones. Certain models even have built-in watermark capability for printing sensitive documents.

The nine new printers are available in stores now across Asia with prices ranging from S$158 (US$116.33) for the entry-level units to S$548 (US$403.47) for the A3 inkboxes.

Tags: Printer, Printing, Multifunction Printer, fax, LCD

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