Printing The Brother MFC-J5330DW prints using inkjet technology, which sprays liquid ink onto the paper from a moving head. Its text printing is Good, though not as good as most inkjets. It prints Very Good photos on glossy paper that most people would be happy with. If any color ink runs out, it stops printing—it can't be set to just use the remaining black ink. If the black ink runs out, it stops printing—it can't be set to just use the remaining color ink. The capacity of the main paper tray is 250 sheets, a generous size. There's a second single-sheet input tray for full-size paper, in case you just need a printout on letterhead, for instance.
Scanning and Copying Scanning performance was Good, but had a few noticeable flaws. Copying performance was Good, but had a few noticeable flaws. It has an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) for easily scanning/copying a stack of pages.
Controls and Display And a touchscreen.
Connectivity and Networking You can connect directly to a PC with a USB cable, or to your network router either wirelessly with WiFi or with an Ethernet cable. Apple AirPrint is built in, to print wirelessly from Apple devices via your local network. You can also install an app on your smartphone or tablet, as another option for printing over your WiFi network. This model has built-in faxing, can store incoming faxes if the paper runs out, and can send faxes from an attached PC.
Cost of Ownership and Ink When this section was last updated, the printer's purchase price was about $255. Printing uses up ink and the costs add up over time.
Note The printer takes up a lot of space and might be more suitable for an office than a small desktop.
Printer Firmware Firmware is software that exists inside the printer. All models are evaluated using the latest firmware version available at the time of testing.
Software The collection of software accompanying the printer may include: the printer driver, printer applications, electronic user manual, (and for all-in-ones:) scanning, faxing, and OCR apps. These get installed on your personal computer. All models are evaluated with a Windows 10 PC using the latest version of printer driver and printer support apps available at the time of testing. The software version was 1.1.0.0.
