Review on 🖨️ Brother MFC-L8610CDW Color Laser Printer, Wireless All-in-One Printer, Automatic Duplex Printing, Mobile Printing and Scanning, Amazon Dash Replenishment Compatible by Willie Midkiff

I am posting this as a preview as I have only had this printer/scanner/fax for a few weeks. I'll post a sequel once I have enough time to test it, see how often the overload occurs (and how difficult it is to fix), see if there are any other usability or maintenance issues, and to see how long the stocks are sufficient. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: First off, this model appears to be VERY NEW, so much so that Revain Dash Replenishment doesn't have built-in yet, although Brother promises it will soon. However, by the time I had finished setting up the device, a firmware update was available. It's also BIG and HEAVY for a SOHO printer or small workgroup, albeit relatively quiet. You NEED two people to lift it out of the box, which is the same type that heavy servers come in: removing the four mounting clips allows you to lift the box (top 90%) straight off the base (bottom 10%) in turn, lift your hands slightly to get under the device. Aside from that heavy lifting, the basic setup was easy. Hardware wise, many tapes, clips, and other security devices had to be removed, but the instructions list the specific locations. Despite the plastic outer case, the build quality was very high. For example, the slide-out tray (actually a photoconductor) that houses the toner cartridges and provides easy access to other replaceable components is one of the cleanest designs I've seen outside of data center hardware. In addition, the various trays, flaps, rollers and access doors involved in the print and scan paper path move smoothly and turn on and off with a clearly audible and tactile "click". From the software point of view, this is one of the biggest problems. For new devices, local WiFi is usually connected. Here Brother has simplified the process, much like Google did with their Chromecasts: the device advertises a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer network, allowing the manufacturer's software to connect to the device and download the correct network settings from the computer. . After that, installing drivers etc locally was pretty painless. And that's all most SOHO users need. For those with more complex needs, it's worth noting that Brother has done the right thing with the firmware on this device in almost all cases. For example, EVERYTHING can be configured using the built-in web server, which also supports HTTPS and allows the admin to create and upload REAL certificates if they wish. It supports nearly every local and remote printing protocol imaginable, from the legacy BSD lpd protocols to AirPrint and Google Cloud Print and everything in between, as well as a full suite of file transfer and network management protocols. of course all individually handicapped. WiFi can operate in personal (same password for everyone) or enterprise (EAP) modes, and IPv6 is supported but can be disabled. The device can update its own firmware over the network and for the most part the process was hassle-free. It was great to see a multifunction laser printer that was as easy to set up as a consumer device (and simpler than many cheap inkjet printers) and yet had configuration flexibility, protocol flexibility, and "enterprise" options to meet the needs of higher security (or more complex) network environment. As for desktop software, I've only tried the macOS version. They got the job done, but weren't as sophisticated as the printer's firmware. For example, the network setup wizard, which connects to the printer's dedicated WiFi network to pass WiFi credentials and settings, indicated that it timed out, even though the printer's network interface was configured successfully. The rest of the computer-side setup worked fine, and it was nice to see the printer drivers use CUPS instead of some weird proprietary interface. The only other issue was in the Control Center app where the scan presets were configured. This application controls the preferences (e.g. resolution, file format, destination directory) for both on-demand (computer-initiated) and on-demand (printer-initiated) scans, but it was difficult to figure out how to set up the latter . The program offers Image, OCR (built-in, fast, and fairly accurate), Email, and File buttons, but clicking them sets up (and initiates) an on-demand scan. A web search has shown that to set up gifts for "push" scanning, you need to hold down the "ctrl" key while pressing any of these keys. This worked well, but was counterintuitive and poorly documented. Those were really the only issues with the macOS desktop software. Again, I can't comment on the Windows software as I haven't used it, but the macOS software has all the features you need and gets the job done. It just lacks the level of usability and polish that I expected given the excellent firmware on the device and the high build quality. OVERALL RATING: Brother did a really good job with this device, especially for under $500. The model appears to be very new and could be improved with software and firmware updates. I hope that future versions of macOS desktop software will iron out some of the rough edges, and future device firmware releases will integrate Revain Dash Replenishment and additional web services for print sources and scan destinations.