Brother MFC-9440CN Multi-Function Laser Printer
The Brother MFC-9440CN is an excellent color laser multifunction printer for small offices and work groups. Its fast speeds, great print/scan quality, and large feature set are commendable. It’s not without its shortcomings, but they are minor. Compared with similarly priced multifunctions we’ve reviewed, such as the Lexmark X502n and the Xerox Phaser 6115MFP, Brother MFC-9440CN performs better for standard office use because it carries out all of its functions well. If you prefer asuper-high-quality prints, you may consider the HP Color Laserjet CM1017, but its slow print speeds won’t stand up to everyday office use. For everyone else looking for a multifunction that offers the features and performance that meet the wide-ranging needs of a busy office, we recommend the Brother MFC-9440CN.
The Brother MFC-9440CN isn’t the fastest laser multifunction , but it’s the most consistently fast across all tasks, It produced black text at a rate of 16 pages per minute (ppm), behind the Lexmark X502n’s 19.71ppm, but when printing grayscale graphics, it bested the Lexmark with a score of 15.21ppm. The Brother machine was the fastest with color printing, by far, when compared with similarly priced units, more than doubling some of the scores. It produced color text at a rate of 13.8ppm and color graphics at a rate of 15.53ppm.
Happily, the MFC-9440CN doesn’t sacrifice quality for speed. The black text prints were basically perfect, which is what you should expect of a $700 laser multifunction. The text is sharp and clean, and easily legible down to 2.5 points. Color text showed good color blending and well-rendered characters, but some of the text looked as if it was shrouded in a bit of haze. The color graphics print showed sharp details and nice saturation, but the colors were overly ruddy.
The Brother MFC-9440CN uses TN115BK black laser cartridge, and TN115C, TN115M and TN115Y color laser cartridge, and goes for about $130 each.
Overall, the Brother MFC-9440CN’s print speeds and quality to be great, more than good enough for standard office use.