Brother DCP-7060D multifunction laser printer-scanner device

We have reviewed the Brother DCP-7055, a ‘multifunction device' that combines a black and white laser printer with a colour scanner and copier.

The Brother DCP-7060D from the same maker is the next model up, with a few tweaks. The size and shape are largely the same, though our review unit was black instead of the cheaper model's off-white. The scanner and copier are the same as before but the printer section is different – faster and more efficient than the DCP-7055's.

As with that model the DCP-7060D has a 250-sheet paper feed tray at the bottom, from which paper feeds through the printer to an output tray in the middle, with a flip-up stop to catch sheets as they come out. The scanner section is above that. Again, the only connection is through USB to a single computer, not to a network.

Print quality was superb – at the lower quality setting (300dpi) text looked fine if a bit jagged very close-up, but at the two higher settings (600 and 1200dpi), which were almost indistinguishable under the microscope, it looked excellent. Graphs and charts also looked good. It managed nearly 19 pages per minute at the higher quality settings, which was impressive. Scans suffered from the same slight quality problem as the DCP-7055.

The main advantage over the DCP-7055 is the running cost: at online replacement prices we calculated a cost per page of 2.6p, over a penny per page cheaper than the other model.

If you're doing a lot of printing, buying this more expensive one will pay off, otherwise we'd go for the cheaper DCP-7055.