An entry-level printer that dares to impress and performs well
By Paul Marc Rañon
The presence of All-In-One (AIO) and Multifunction Devices (MFD) has been a common sight in the market shelves. While some users frown upon the capabilities of these devices, the budget-conscious and SOHO users have hailed them with praise.
When it comes to printers, we prefer the multifunction type because it reduces the need for space and having other separate devices. But at their (PHP 4,000 – 5,000) price range, some may get the notion and impression that they are often cheaply built and laid out for maximum inconvenience.
In the case of the Brother DCP-130C Multifunction 4-in-1 (printer, scanner, copier, and PictBridge direct printing) Inkjet Printer, it’s really far more different. This Multifunction Printer (MFP) has been with me for almost a month now at home, and I have to admit, she has performed well in every run. Read along.
The light gray black colored DCP-130C has a dimension of 98 x 360 x 150 millimeters (W x D x H) and weighs 7 kilograms. There are 15 buttons all at the right side of the front edge of the top along with a single-lined LED display that displays variety of options. The DCP-130C has an installed memory of 16 MB.
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| BROTHER DCP-130C | |
On the front of the DCP-130C, it has a built-in card reader for CF Type I and Type II, SD, mini-SD, xD-Picture Card, MS, MS PRO, MS DUO, MagicGate, Microdrive, and MMC cards. The printer has a USB / PictBridge slot for direct printing from your favorite digital camera.
What surprised me was that the USB slot for connecting the DCP-130C to a PC or laptop (like the HP nc2400 Notebook PC) is located below the scanner. I guess Brother was thinking of putting something new as regards to the USB cable slot is concerned. But for conformists, they may find this weird. This is not a shortcoming, but rather a new concept, if you ask me.
The DCP-130C’s tray has a maximum paper capacity of up to 100 pages and can print (both B&W and color) to a maximum resolution of up to 1200 x 6000 dpi. It has four printing modes namely Fast, Fast Normal, Normal, and Fine.
Although there are lots of cheap MFPs marred by flimsy paper feeds, the DCP-130C comes with a fully fledged paper tray. Eventhough this baby isn't as robust as the kind of tray you'd expect to find in an entry-level printer, it's a big improvement on what you'd usually get with in an MFD from other competitors.
Printing a high resolution, letter-sized image on the DCP-130C may take sometime to finish, but the results impressed me well. For grayscale, Fast printing lasted 25 seconds, Fast Normal printing lasted 40 seconds, Normal printing lasted 53 seconds, and Fine printing lasted 1 minute and 25 seconds.
As for full colored printing, Fast printing lasted 39 seconds, Fast Normal printing lasted 48 seconds, Normal printing lasted 1 minute and 15 seconds, and Fine printing lasted 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Printing a 3R photo using the bundled Brother Premium Glossy Paper lasted 2 minutes and 38 seconds.
For text documents, the DCP-130C was able to print a 20-paged MS Word file (pure text) for 15 seconds, a 20-paged MS Word file (with graphics) for 35 seconds, a 20-paged PDF file (pure text) for 23 seconds, and a 20-paged PDF file (with graphics) for 42 seconds.
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| BROTHER DCP-130C | | Aside from being a printer, the DCP-130C is also a scanner. The flatbed scanner has a landscape lid that can be raised of up to 28 centimeters. Here, you can scan colored pictures of up to a resolution of 600 x 2400 dpi, from pictures, books to magazine covers.
The scanning features of the DCP-130C works well for this device, producing reasonably accurate colors at competitive rate levels. It’s certainly not the most feature-packed or highest performing in terms of scanning components. But when it comes to being cost-effective and money-wise spending, the DCP-130C facilities are solid.
The copier feature of the DCP-130C was quite impressive. The printer has a copying resolution of up to 600 x 1200 dpi. It takes about 15 seconds to copy a black and white document, while for colored (with graphics) document take about 30 seconds.
Aside from these notable functions, the DCP-130C has a card reader with Brother's PhotoCapture Center feature, wherein you just take the media card out of your digital camera and plug it directly into the device to print the photos directly from the card.
The DCP-130C has PictBridge direct printing that wasn’t present among its predecessors. Plugging the Polaroid i533 digital camera and the Nokia N93 into the PictBridge USB slot, printing digital images was a breeze on the DCP-130C.
One of the unique features of the DCP-130C is the new longer life, lower cost Innobella ink technology. A moniker for Innovation and Beauty, Innobella represents the fact that both Brother genuine ink and paper have been designed to get the very best results from the DCP-130C.
It delivers 1.5 picolitre technology which means less graininess and a sharper, crisper image every time. Innobella ink ensures consistent results and protection for the printer and print head. Innobella Glossy Paper delivers sharper images in more vivid color and a reduction in bleeding, and is resistant to light and ozone fades.
The DCP-130C is equipped with four individual ink consumables (Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow) that are easily installed and loaded from the front of the printer making them easy to access and replace. It has a Brother innovation called the Capillary Tube Delivery Ink System (CTDIS) that directs ink from 4 separate cartridges to the print head which allows a smoother, quieter operation.
Indeed, the Brother DCP-130C 4-in-1 Multifunction Inkjet Printer is well recommended by the Tech101 peeps (myself included) for personal, home, and SOHO settings. Although it doesn’t have an automatic document feeder function, the DCP-130C performs very well as a PC printer, scanner, stand-alone copier, and for PictBridge direct printing.from a digital camera. With cost-effective cartridges and user-friendly features, plus with Innobella and CTDIS technology, this entry-level printer has a caliber that impresses even the most discriminating users. (By Paul Marc Rañon)
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