Brother MFC-7360N multifunction mono laser printer

The Brother MFC-7360N is very speedy when it comes to running off text documents, thanks to a fast first page out time of around ten seconds and a high subsequent print speed of around 22 pages per minute in our testing. It's also got a built-in fax and scanner for copying or digitising documents, although the quality isn't quite up to the flatbeds in more expensive inkjet and laser printers.

Brother MFC-7360N review: Design and setup

The Brother MFC-7360N is not a pretty printer — not many are, but we're thinking of the Lexmark Genesis and HP Envy 100 as a benchmark. In contrast, the Brother MFC-7360N is tall and rectangular and looks like an 80s Transformer, with angular edges and a utilitarian off-white finish. It is easy to operate, though; the MFC-7360N's paper is fed through a bottom-loading cassette with a 250-sheet capacity, and there's a single-sheet multipurpose tray for loading specialty papers. The printer's output tray can hold 100 sheets at any one time. The flatbed scanner has a built-in 35-sheet automatic document feeder which means multi-page document scanning is easy, unless you're trying to scan both sides of each piece of paper — a task restricted to more expensive models.

We tested the Brother MFC-7360N through both Windows and Mac OS X, using a Apple MacBook Pro. Brother's USB print drivers install without hassle and we didn't have to do any hunting through options to extract the fastest print speed from the Brother MFC-7360N. You can also connect to the Brother MFC-7360N via Ethernet, sharing it over a wired network, and control printer functions using a Web-based management system. The Brother MFC-7360N doesn't have wireless networking, which we were hoping for on a printer costing $349.

Brother MFC-7360N review: Print speed and quality

We tested the Brother MFC-7360N by printing off a range of documents, including our 50-page black text test document. The first page of the document came out in a hair under 10 seconds, which is impressively quick for a consumer-level laser printer. Subsequent printers come out every two seconds or so, so over the 50 pages of the test document the Brother MFC-7360N was just able to hit 22 pages per minute — more than fast enough for a consumer laser printer, we think. We don't have any complaints about the speed of the Brother MFC-7360N.

Its quality was generally good as well. We were easily able to view printed text down to 8pt in size, which didn't show any evidence of bleeding or over-saturation. Laser printers have a reputation for producing crisp text, and the Brother MFC-7360N is no different. Larger graphics and areas of gradients — black fading into grey, for example — show some graininess but all laser printers exhibit this to some extent.

Brother MFC-7360N review: Toner costs

The Brother MFC-7360N uses Brother's TN-2230 and TN-2250 standard and high-yield black toner cartridges, just like the HL-2270DW. The standard Brother TN-2230 costs $70 and the high-yield Brother TN-2250 costs $120 — translating into a standard running cost of 5.8 cents per page using standard toner, and 4.6 cents per page using the high-yield cartridge. These costs are on par with other entry-level monochrome and colour laser printers, but we were hoping the extra initial cost of the Brother MFC-7360N would mean lower toner costs.

Brother MFC-7360N review: Conclusion

Brother's MFC-7360N does a good job of monochrome printing, and its scan/copy/fax capability with the automatic document feeder makes it versatile. Wireless networking would have been useful and we would have liked the toner to be cheaper, but overall the Brother MFC-7360N doesn't have too many problems of note.