Brother MFC-L3780CDW review
31 pages a minute of colour and three toner yield tiers, which is the lever most colour lasers do not give you.
A wireless colour laser-quality all-in-one for small businesses, printing at up to 31ppm, with TN229 standard, high and super high-yield toner options.
Check price on AmazonSpecifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Functions | Print, scan, copy and fax |
| Print speed | Up to 31 pages per minute |
| Toner options | Brother Genuine TN229 standard, TN229XL high yield and TN229XXL super high yield |
| Output | Laser-quality digital colour |
| Connectivity | Wireless |
| Target | Small business |
Specifications above come from Brother's published specifications. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.
What it does well
- Three toner yield tiers means the cost per page is a decision rather than a fixed number, and super high-yield cartridges materially change the economics at volume.
- 31ppm is fast enough that nobody stands waiting at the machine for a normal document.
- A complete MFP feature set including fax, which regulated industries still require more often than people expect.
- Colour laser output is consistent and does not smudge, which matters for documents that get handled.
- It undercuts the equivalent HP machine, which is Brother's long-standing position in this category.
Where it falls short
- Four toner cartridges. If your colour printing is a handful of pages a week, you are buying and eventually replacing three cartridges you barely use. Count your colour pages before deciding.
- Colour laser is not photo printing. It produces excellent business graphics and cannot produce a photograph. Our inkjet versus laser test comparison shows what happens to an image on each.
- Standard-yield toner shipped with the machine runs out sooner than the box suggests, and the real running cost begins with the first high-yield replacement.
- Scan speed and feeder capacity are ordinary at this class. If scanning is heavy, the MFC-L8930CDW is the machine with the serious feeder.
- It is a full-size office machine, and small offices routinely put it somewhere that does not have the clearance. Our printer stand versus desk space comparison is worth reading before delivery.
What owners report
Owner reports on this class of Brother machine are consistently positive about value and about toner cost, which is the reason people choose Brother over HP more often than any feature. Setup and wireless reliability are the other recurring positives.
The consistent complaint is the yield of the toner supplied in the box, which is standard rather than high yield. That is a category-wide practice rather than a Brother one, and the practical response is to price the XXL cartridge before you buy the printer.
Who it suits
- Small businesses printing colour documents, reports and presentations.
- Anyone who wants to choose their cost per page through toner tiers.
- Offices replacing a slow colour inkjet.
Who should skip it
- Offices printing almost entirely black, who should read our mono versus colour laser comparison and buy mono.
- Heavy scanning workloads, which want a bigger feeder.
- Photo printing, which needs an inkjet.
Alternatives worth considering
33ppm colour, dual-band wireless, gigabit ethernet and single-pass two-sided scanning up to 104ipm with an 80-page feeder. The step up is the scanner, not the printing.
Check price on AmazonThe equivalent HP machine with Wolf Pro Security and Wi-Fi Direct. Choose on toner pricing and on which ecosystem your other devices use, because the feature sets are closely matched.
Check price on AmazonMonochrome with an 11,000-page super high-yield cartridge and fast single-pass duplex scanning. If colour is a few pages a month, this is cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and has one cartridge instead of four.
Check price on AmazonCommon questions
What is the difference between TN229, TN229XL and TN229XXL?
Yield. They are the same toner in progressively larger capacities, and the larger cartridges cost less per page. The super high-yield XXL is the one to price when you are comparing running costs, because it is what a business printing regularly will actually buy after the starter cartridges run out.
Do I need a colour laser?
Count your colour pages for a month. Most offices discover the number is small, in which case a mono laser costs less to buy, has one cartridge instead of four, and produces cheaper pages. Colour laser makes sense when colour is routine rather than occasional, and our mono versus colour laser comparison sets out the crossover.
Is Brother better than HP for small business?
Brother generally prices toner lower and offers more yield tiers, which is the main practical difference. HP has stronger fleet management and security tooling, which matters if you have IT. For a small office without IT, Brother usually wins on running cost. Our Epson versus Brother comparison covers brand-level differences further.
Can it print on cardstock?
Laser printers handle heavier stock through the manual or multipurpose tray better than through the main cassette, and there is an upper weight limit. Check Brother's media specification for the exact gsm range, and feed heavy stock one route rather than the main tray. Our cardstock versus standard paper comparison covers what goes wrong when you do not.
Does colour toner expire if I do not use it?
Toner does not dry out the way ink does, which is a real advantage, but cartridges do have a shelf life and the machine will still use small amounts of colour toner during calibration. An office that prints colour rarely still pays something for the colour it is not printing.
Keep reading
- Mono vs colour laser
- Epson vs Brother compared
- Cardstock vs standard paper
- Brother MFC-L8930CDW review
- Brother MFC-L5710DW review
This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.