The Brother DCP-7030 is a mono LaserJet printer that isn't the greatest on the market, but will work well for small offices. Its scanning and copy capability is decent, but print speed, even for normal text documents, was much slower than anticipated. However, what the DCP-7030 lacks in speed, it makes up for in print quality; printed graphics had a minimum of banding, even when dealing with several shades of grey. Additionally, the costs of the printer and its upkeep are small, meaning this printer could save any office some money. Overall, the DCP-7030 provides performance comparable to several more expensive office printers, but at a fraction of the price.
Design
The squat DCP-7030 is compact, meaning it won't take up too much office space. The scanner, located on the top of the machine, is actually a bit wider than the printer itself, but doesn't distort the dimensions overly much. This is due to a glass strip on the scanner surface that takes the place of an automatic document feeder. Since the colour scheme is grey, it may be more aesthetically pleasing to some that are tired of the recent trend of austere black printers. Copying and scanning is made easy by the prominent "Start" and "Cancel" buttons, and the rest of the command buttons are easy to operate. While the LCD screen is readable, it is small, and doesn't have a backlight, which may be a deficit in some office conditions.
Advantages
Although the DCP-7030 provides mono printing, scanning can still be done in colour, which is a real plus for business document backup. Both the printer itself, as well as the corresponding toner cartridges and drums are inexpensive. The toner cartridges are good for about 2,500 pages, meaning they will not have to be replaced often.
Disadvantages
The LCD screen can be quite hard to read if one is standing anywhere aside from directly above the machine, which makes operating the machine a bit difficult. While Brother claims that the DCP-7030 is capable of printing 22 pages per minute, the actual print speeds for text documents are generally more in the range of 12-13 pages per minute. This speed doesn't increase even when printing at a lower resolution or in toner save mode.
