Brother MFC-9450CDN

The MFC-9450CDN ($650 as of April 6, 2009) performed capably in our speed tests. Brother claims that the unit can print both black-and-white text and color images as fast as 21 pages per minute--and it came close to that mark for text (20.4 ppm), with perfect-looking output. But its color graphics performance was much slower 4.9 ppm, and print quality was underwhelming: On plain paper, our test photos looked washed-out and blurry; and on special paper with optimized settings, the colors still had a yellow cast and exhibited moiré patterns. Scans and copies were sometimes a bit too dark but overall they looked good.

The level of color quality will be adequate for many office users; but if you're more exacting, you should consider the Xerox Phaser 6128MFP, which handled photos better and costs slightly less than brother's color laser MFP. The MFC-9450CDN has a lot to offer, though we also noticed a few quirks. Among its pluses are an automatic duplexer and a USB/PictBridge port. Augmenting the unit's 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) for scan and copy input, you get a 250-sheet main input tray and a 50-sheet multipurpose tray. An optional 500-sheet paper tray lists for $250. On the control panel, buttons for fax, scan, and copy functions are not grouped--but everything is clearly labeled, so the arrangement is more annoying than confusing.