Compact, versatile combination copier and reasonable price (Brother DCP 115C)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Brother DCP 115C
Date:	19/09/06 (926 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, not heavy on ink

Disadvantages: Slower than manufacturer claims in general use

PLEASE NOTE: INSPITE OF THE CATEGORY DOOYOO HAS PLACED THIS IN. IT IS NOT A FAX MACHINE!


The Brother DCP-115C was on offer at Argos and, I must admit, that was the reason I bought it. It had previously been on sale for just under a hundred pounds and I bought it for forty-nine.

So, what did I get for my money? This is combination digital copier/ inkjet printer. It is quite simple to use once you work it out and there are on screen instructions to guide you along. I got this home, unpacked it, and investigated the contents of the box. It is compatible with Mac OS 9.1-9.2, Mac OS X 10.2.4 or greater and Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000 Professional and XP.

It also comes with a comprehensive, easy to understand guide book and ink cartridges.


The USB cable was not included in the box but I did happen to have one from an old printer, so be aware of this before you go home with shiny new machine and find you can’t use it because you don’t have the correct leads. (I must admit that it annoys me when I buy monitors, printers, etc that don’t come with the correct leads. This can sometimes add ten or twelve pounds to the price, depending on what you need.)

First things first. Remove the packing, plug it in, and connect to pc via USB cable and follow the instructions on the very simple installation disc. Next, the ink cartridges had to be installed. This machine has three ink cartridges which must be installed in the correct slots. It is very easy to do.

Next, test the printer. Everything was set up correctly and working fine in under 15 minutes. (Including the time it took me to read the appropriate sections in the manual.)

Operation is really easy. There is a screen on the front of the machine which allows you to access the menu and choose scan size, capture size (for capture from digital cameras), picture quality, and mono, or colour. You can also choose paper size here, enlarge, reduce, and even manage your ink and scanner set up. Sounds complicated? It isn’t.

The Paperport Software supplied with this machine is also very easy to use and simple to install. You get a mini photo editing suite and you can also manipulate and improve the quality of photographs and documents from the interface.

The important technical details for this machine are:

Memory: 8MB
Automatic feed 10pages
Paper tray holds 100 sheets
220-240Volts
Power save mode 2.5watts
Weight 5.5kgs


The paper tray holds paper in different sizes: A4 to C5 envelopes and sizes in between and the printer takes plain paper, inkjet paper, glossy paper, transparencies and envelopes.

Maximum print speed on this machine is 20 black and white pages per minute and, according to the manufacturer 15 pages of colour. However, I would say that it is far slower than that. My own estimation would be less than half those figures.

I do find it particularly slow when I’m printing, for example, newsletters with more than 50% colour, straight from Word.

Photo printing is quite slow too. The machine will indicate that it is receiving data and then pause while it thinks about it. A simple 6X5 photograph in colour, can take a few minutes to process.

So, if you want value for money and you are not too worried about speed, I would recommend this machine. However, if you are intending to use it for bulk printing, I would recommend something a bit faster.

Summary: useful copier, printer, photo printer