Being that I am a work-at-home mom with a full-time career as a professional blogger, having equipment for all my needs is imperative. Although, I don’t work out of an office in my home, I still need a telephone, scanner, printer, copy machine and oftentimes a fax. I have had to run out numerous times to get things paperwork to companies which can be an inconvenience for my busy lifestyle. As a small business owner, having one machine that does it all for me is more beneficial than various office items. Which is why I was thrilled to receive the Brother® MFC-J430w Inkjet All-in-One from Staples.
I chose this Brother all-in-one printer for many reasons, the first being that it has wireless capabilities and offers fax. My current printer had quit working after years of owning it, however I was still using USB to print or scan (this was the only performance my printer had). The Brother MFC-J430w Inkjet All-in-One arrives carefully package for safety while shipping. It includes the machine, 4-cartridge ink system, several guides, CD-ROM and telephone line cord. Setting up took a bit but was simple yet aggravating with the quick setup guide booklet. The paper tray (capacity of 100 sheets of paper) needs to be pulled out to load letter paper where there is also a paper support that unfolds when printing to catch the papers. We then went through the steps to connect power and telephone line so we can use fax services from our home. The MFC-J430w includes 4 ink cartridges; black, cyan, magenta and yellow. The front of the machine has the ink cartridge cover where each individual cartridge will be installed.
Once everything was in place, the machine is ready to test print quality. On the clear 1.9” color LCD display, I hit color start and out printed a paper showing everything was OK. From there I was able to set up date and time, and changing the brightness of the LCD color display. Also setting up our station ID for faxing and additional things such as daylight savings time. This is all functioned through the menu keys while viewing instructions on the screen.
It was time to setup wireless capabilities. I highly recommend if you buy this machine to keep the setup guide as there are a few things that need to be done before setting up. We had to configure the wireless network settings to communicate with our router. Once we configured we setup wireless through the CD-ROM and following on-screen instruction and the directions in the book. You can also set wireless up manually or one-push setup if your router has WPS or AOSS capabilities. Setting up took about 45 minutes from start to finish. The most difficult part was finding the USB port on our machine which is under the scanner cover. To close, the USB cord has to go through the cable channel. It would be much easier if this was on the outside of the machine with all the other ports. Toward the end of our setup I was getting frustrated because I had to temporarily connect the 2.0 USB cable(not included), from the computer to the machine. I continued to receive error messages saying the USB was not connected when in fact it was. I even got on the phone with Brother, who were very helpful but we still continued to get the message. When I finally put my hands up and said I give up, it worked. Still not sure why I was getting the message it wasn’t connected but I’m glad it finally worked. If you are having this same issue, I highly suggest you place your printer and computer as close to your router as possible. Our router is on our TV stand, and once I was about to quit and placed my computer on the TV stand, that is when it connected. Get your machines as close as possible to the router when setting up wireless capabilities so you do not have the setbacks I had.
We sent a test fax to make sure fax services were working, and all went through and we received one back, so I love that I can send and receive fax anytime I need to now, without running to our local business here that offers fax services. Sending a fax was easy by following instructions on the LCD after hitting fax. I also can store numbers if it will be a frequent number. For sending a fax, scanning and making copies I like that I am able to use the Automatic document feeder (ADF) or the scanner glass. The ADF can hold up to 20 pages at a time! This is going to a great advantage for me because I am so used to scanning documents one-by-one, which took forever on my old printer.
Other features I’m loving
-Print, copy or scan in black or color by the push of a button
-Ink Save Mode: Help reduce ink consumption on per page by outlining images for draft printing using Ink Save Mode
-Fast print speeds though photo printing is a bit slower
-High quality clear printing
-Quiet
-Stylish, compact design
-Reliability
-Affordable for an all-in-one
There isn’t anything I don’t like about this machine other than the frustration from setting up the wireless. I also was discouraged I have to manually set paper size if using something other than plain paper. For instance, I printed a photo of Zoe on matte photo paper, but had to go into the general settings to change from plain to inkjet. I wish this would do it automatically. The print quality of the photos I have printed are good, but not completely high quality for photo printing.
I have enjoyed printing wireless and also on my phone. Such ease when I see something that needs printed right away. Overall, I am pleased with the Brother MFC-J430w Inkjet All-in-One. I am able to use this all-in-one for personal and business use as can my entire family. I’m saving money by having all features in the comfort of my home plus this is a cost-effective machine makes it a great choice for families’ or small business owners. Learn more by visiting Staples.com where the machine retails for $99.99.
Disclosure:Staples provided me with this Brother All-in-one Printer. The words and opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. To see the full line of printers visit Staples.com.
OHHH that looks like a great printer! Love the photo too cute!
Wow – what a nice printer. I need a new one, so this is definitley one I’ll consider.
It looks like a nice printer, but I’m not sure I’d use it to print photos.
My husband has a Brother All in One printer for his office. He loves it – it is quite a few years old and works like new still. I love the Brother brand and really love shopping at Staples. We are on their rewards program and the discounts and points really add up to awesome savings!
This looks like a great printer! I went to an all in one printer a while back and love it. Though I have to admit that I still haven’t set up the WiFi on mine! So cool that you can just fax from home now!