BROTHER MFC-1970MC RIBBON CARTRIDGE

Brother MFC-1970MC Review

Overview:

One would think that the “1970” in the Brother MFC-1970MC reflected the year it was made, as this multifunctional fax machine was of the ink ribbon type, and operates with excruciatingly poor print quality and speed, while even managing to be a poor fax machine, though this is its primary function.

Pros:

The only positive point that one could make about a device as primitive as the Brother MFC-1970MC is that is it, technically, a device that can perform a variety of print, copy, scan, and fax tasks. Though this is a true statement, it does each of these poorly and even, arguably, expensively by inkjet standards, especially when considering the extremely low cost of inkjet MFCs on the market today. The Brother MFC-1970MC does have one thing on the new devices though: a gigantic, ugly corded handset.

Cons:

Where to begin when discussing the downsides of the Brother MFC-1970MC? Its print resolution is absolutely awful; topping out at a fax machine standard of 200 x 400 dots per inch. Its print speed, however, takes the cake when it comes to pitiful. This clumsy piece of garbage maxes out at the ice glacier like speed of 2 pages per minute. Though the device is capable of making copies, they also will suffer from this wretched performance problem.

For you Windows 3.1 users out there, the MFC-1970MC will make you happy to know that you may now scan imagery into your PC at the resolution of 400 x 400 dots per inch or, by today’s standard, a quality not fit even for standard black and white documents. Also, as expected, fax resolutions are no better than the device’s other quality settings.

With the help of 512 Kbs of built in memory, the MFC-1970MC incorporates a variety of fax machine functions into the device. It appears that the other features (print, copy, scan) were more of an afterthought designed to add a degree of multifunctionality to what is essentially a fax machine, but the unit fails even at its main function.

The unit is equipped with a 14.4 K fax modem or one that is, as Brother described it at the time, “40% faster than 9600 bps modems.” When you’re using a device that makes you deal in terms of a 9600 bps modem, it’s time to get a new device. For those die hard fans of this dinosaur our there, ink ribbon is still available for purchase online but, in the end, users should probably start looking at the options available today.