Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Inexpensive, good black printouts, cartridges are cheap.

Thumbs Down:

Boring looks, LCD is tiny, slow in printing speed.

Inside the Trunk:

Software disc, power cables.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

MFC-3360C is an ink jet color printer. It is 16 inches big, 11.5 inches deep, 8.4 inches high and weighs about 13.2 lbs. The printer has 16 MB internal memory, maximum copying speed up to 18 pages/min (mono) / up to 16 pages/min (color), maximum copying resolution is up to 600 x 1200 dpi, Maximum Document Enlargement is 400%, Maximum document reduction 25%, Maximum copies are 99.

Maximum printing resolution is up to 6000 x 1200 dpi, maximum printing speed is up to 25 pages/min (mono) / up to 20 pages/min (color), the printer has four cartridges 1 each for black, yellow, magenta and cyan.

For scanning the optical resolution is 600 x 1200 dpi, interpolated resolution is 2400 x 2400 dpi.

For fax the maximum transmission speed is 33.6 kbps, total memory capacity is 200 pages, it supports PC faxing and also includes corded handset.

For document and media handling – the minimum original size is 3.5 in x 5 in, maximum original size is Legal (8.5 in x 14 in), document feeder capacity is of 20 sheets, maximum copying size is Legal (8.5 in x 14 in), supported media types are transparencies, coated paper, plain paper, envelopes and cards. Standard media capacity is of 100 sheets, output trays capacity is of 50 sheets

Speed details – Copying : up to 16 pages/min – Color, Copying : up to 18 pages/min – B/W, Printing : up to 20 pages/min – Color, Printing : up to 25 pages/min – B/W.

Supported operating systems are MS Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Apple Mac OS X 10.2.4 or later, MS Windows 98 SE, MS Windows 2000, MS Windows XP, MS Windows ME and Windows 7

The printer has 1 year warranty.

Razzle Dazzle:

MFC-3360C has to be one of the most boring looking printers ever. We thought the look of the device was borrowed from the 90s and there is nothing pretty or attractive about this printer when it comes to looks. It has those dusty drawers and rubber buttons that we are used to seeing in old printers.

Inside Dope:

MFC-3360C is one of the cheapest printers around and if you think that the price is low because it is low in performance, then you are right. We were turned off by the boring look of the printer when we saw it on the tables of our test centers.

The printer has a screen that is rather small and you will struggle to read from it just like we did in our test centers. Below this LCD screen there are buttons for copy, fax and scan and close to that are large shortcut buttons. It also has a corded handset and while we accept the fact that it might be useful at times, it certainly contributes to the boring look of the printer. There is an auto document feeder which holds up to 20 sheets and it also acts as a cover for the control panel. We were disappointed to find out that the printer doesn’t have a USB port for external devices and a card reader.

There is a single tray which controls the outgoing and incoming paper for the printer, and there are adjustable tabs for variety of paper sizes. This tray is an improvement from the previous DCP-165C which had the tray deep inside thus making it hard to take out and put in paper sheets.

The printer comes with a driver disc and the software lets you adjust the quality settings of the printer from fast normal, fast, fine and normal. You also get to control the white balance, color density, brightness, contrast, etc. It also shows the quantity of ink remaining in the printer while printing sheets.

The printer lets you install a third party software for imaging by Scansoft called Paper port. This software edit photos just like Apple’s iPhoto, it has editing solutions for blemish, red-eye elimination and auto-enhancement. We tried the software and found out is intuitive and user friendly, as compared to the iPhoto but if you are an advanced user, better use Adobe suites because this doesn’t have all the advanced editing options.

The MFD doesn’t have a flatbed scanner so if you are going to use this device for scanning thick books or anything other than a single sheet of paper better look else where. For ink management the device has four tank system with individual cartridges for yellow, magenta, cyan and black. The cost of color cartridge is $17 and yield about 750 pages while the black tank costs about $32 and gives 900 pages. We found the ink management was very economical for this printer.

The printer cannot be connected through Wi-Fi because it doesn’t have one so you will have to use a USB cord to connect it. We were frustrated by the slow speeds that the printer had to offer while it was working. This printer has the slowest speed we have ever seen and this device is certainly not for guy who lack patience. However the print quality is pretty good, black prints were sharp and looked good. Color print quality is passable and it is good only for light photographers.

Nitty Gritty:

Brother MFC-3360C has boring looks and average performance which makes us ask you to look elsewhere. If you really want a better printer in the same price range get the Canon Pixma MX330 which costs the same, performs much better and has a color LCD.

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