Brother Mult-function devices

Does anyone have experience of using Brother's DCP 9000 series with a Mac?

I'm particularly interested in the DCP-9042CDN.

I'm thinking of buying one of these to replace my old laser printer and scanner. Both of which I've had trouble with.

I need to be able to OCR documents and scan to PDF, I can't do this with my old Epson Perfection -- no TWAIN drivers -- does work with ImageCapture, though. What experience have you had of Bother's multi-function scanners?

My Samsung 3051N printer works fine across the network, but nothing happens when choose 'two-sided' in the print options. Does Mac OS X not handle manual duplex well? I couldn't decide whether it was a Samsung issue or an Apple one. I've tried many different driver versions all print fine, but no double-sided printing.


Given my problems I'm thinking of buying a multifunction device with a hardware duplexer. That should work, right?

Any advice welcome given that this is an expensive purchase -- there doesn't seem to be much information, or choice when it comes to printers and scanners for Mac OS X.

I'm using OS X 10.6 on an Intel iMac.


TIA,

Cliffy

I can't answer your question directly, however, Brother has been fairly good about providing drivers and solutions for Mac OS X. The printer you're interested in purchasing is supported in Snow Leopard 10.6.2. The Brother download site has drivers.

I'm not exactly in favor of using a hardware duplexer but that's up to you. One suggestion I do have is that you first research the cost of the toner cartridges and any drum replacement(s) that you may need to do in the future.

Also - Take a look at what Canon has to offer. Canon is another printer manufacturer who has been real good about support for Mac OS X.

Shop around. Once you buy a printer, it's like pulling wisdom teeth to return it if you're not satisfied. Most sellers will charge an outlandish restocking fee because of the consumables.

Regards.

I can't say on that specific printer but I will say I've been very happy with my Brother MFC-490CW. They had a few driver updates since I've owned it, though never had any problems scanning or printing. I'd buy another in a hearbeat.

i started the Canon way but after heaps of efforts with scanning to either of 2 Macs on a LAN i gave up and went the Brother way. Not only is it wireless but it always finds its own IP address after shutdown and will scan to both iMacs. MFC 885 has been superseded but if i needed another printer i would go Brother.

chscag said:

I can't answer your question directly, however, Brother has been fairly good about providing drivers and solutions for Mac OS X. The printer you're interested in purchasing is supported in Snow Leopard 10.6.2. The Brother download site has drivers.

I'm not exactly in favor of using a hardware duplexer but that's up to you. One suggestion I do have is that you first research the cost of the toner cartridges and any drum replacement(s) that you may need to do in the future.

Also - Take a look at what Canon has to offer. Canon is another printer manufacturer who has been real good about support for Mac OS X.

Shop around. Once you buy a printer, it's like pulling wisdom teeth to return it if you're not satisfied. Most sellers will charge an outlandish restocking fee because of the consumables.

Regards.

Click to expand...

Thanks, chscag.

I've had a look at the drivers and the consumables. With drivers it seems they are up-to-date, but without the printer it's impossible to tell how good they are. ;D At least they properly support Intel Macs. Some of the drivers I've downloaded (for other hardware) don't have compatible installers, even though they claim compatibility for 10.5 & 10.6.

Why don't you favour hardware duplexers?

I'd forgotten Canon. I'll take a look at what they have to offer.

That's a good point about sellers. I'll definitely shop around.

Why don't you favour hardware duplexers?

Click to expand...

We've used them before in an office setting and it seemed (HP and Dell) that we were always having to intercede to get them to work right. But that's been some time ago. Perhaps the units available now work better.

And yes, take a look at Canon for comparison. Good luck with your shopping.

Regards.