By Dmitry Sheynin, Research Editor, September 28, 2010

Brother today announced the refresh of three lines of SOHO devices, with nine new units boasting faster print speeds, more robust feature sets, and street prices on par with the devices being replaced.

“We’re very strong on retaining our price points,” said Jeff Sandler, director of marketing, laser products for Brother International Corporation. “Our goal was to offer greater productivity at a great value, and we’ve done that with these products.”

At a small subterranean satellite office in Greenwich Village, Brother employees turned out multiple prints of a vivid floral design in full color, which might be frowned upon at some offices, but at 2400-x-600-dpi the prints were nonetheless impressive, especially given the pricing.

“Our newest family of color laser all-in-ones deliver the ideal combination of performance and value that small businesses and small office workgroups need,” said Sandler. “For example, these machines can allow a realtor to quickly and economically print color setup sheets for an open house.”

New All-In-Ones Offer Big Color for Low Price

Three new models comprise the company’s latest offering of color laser all-in-ones. The MFC-9460CDN ($599) prints at 25 ppm in color and monochrome, and features automatic duplex printing, a 35-page ADF, an expandable 300-sheet paper capacity, and Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports, as well as scan to/print from USB functionality. The MFC-9560, at $649, has the same feature set plus automatic duplex copy, scan and fax, as well as a wireless network interface. The $699 MFC-9970 offers 30-ppm color and monochrome printing, a 5" color touch-screen display and 50-page ADF. This series will be available beginning October 2010, with the MFC-9970CDW shipping in January 2011.

Single-Function Color Models Lower the Price Bar

Brother also debuted two new color laser printers, which leverage the same engine as their MFP counterparts and come in two configurations: the $399 HL-4150CDN, with 25-ppm color and monochrome printing, automating duplexing, a 300-sheet paper capacity and Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports; and the $499 HL-4570CDW, which outputs at 30 ppm and features a wireless network interface and higher monthly duty cycle. The company also offers the device in a second configuration, the HL-4570CDWT, which has an additional 500-sheet paper tray. The HL-4150CDN is one of the lowest-priced color laser printers on the market, while the HL-4570CDW is one of the lowest-priced 30-ppm color laser printers to offer wireless. These devices will be available beginning October 2010. Both the MFC-9000 series and HL-4000 series use the same consumables. Consumables pricing was not available at time of publication.

Compact Monochrome Printers For Low-Volume Users

Brother’s monochrome laser printers also got an update, with the HL-2240 ($119), HL-2240D ($129) and HL-2270DW ($149) replacing the HL-2100 series.

“The HL-2240 offers a new space-saving design that fits virtually anywhere and complements any work environment,” Sandler said. “Small and home-based offices like a medical office or a small lawyer’s office will find the duplex printing option on the HL-2240D and HL-2270DW especially useful for reducing their paper use, lowering their printing costs and limiting the need for additional storage space.”

The HL-2240 has a 24-ppm print speed, 250-sheet paper capacity, USB port and 2400-x-600-dpi enhanced resolution; the HL-2240D has the same features plus automatic duplexing; and the HL-2270DW prints at 27-ppm and offers wireless connectivity and an Ethernet port. Both standard (1,200 sheets) and high-yield (2,600 sheets) cartridges are available for the HL-2200 series, priced at $44.99 and $68.99, respectively. The drum costs $104.99. With the high-yield cartridge, BLI estimates cost-per-page at 3.53¢. This series will be available beginning October 2010.

Free App for Mobile Printing

iPrint&Scan, a mobile printing solution available on iOS and Android platforms was also demoed. Although the app is compatible only with Brother devices, its usability and overall design are more streamlined than on some other mobile printing apps currently available. The unique remote scanning feature offers a particularly rich experience on iPads—enabling users to scan photos and documents directly to the device in JPEG and PDF formats. The entire process takes about as long as scanning to a PC would and the file compression seems to have a relatively minimal impact on image quality. iPrint&Scan is also free, in contrast to similar offerings like Epson’s PrintJinni, which costs $6.99 in Apple’s App Store.

This article was originally posted on Buyer’s Laboratory.