Neither Brother MFC-J480DW nor HP OfficeJet 5255 were recommended by experts this month
On 2 Apr 2024 (24 days ago) we went through 71 Printer expert endorsements , however neither Brother MFC-J480DW nor HP OfficeJet 5255 were included in any of those recommendations. Since neither Printer received a single endorsement, as far as expert recommendations go, it's technically a tie. We do, however, recommend taking a look at Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 or other critically acclaimed Inkjet Printers of this month.
For reference, Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 received 3 endorsements this month, from PC Guide (5 Jan 2024), PCMag (2 Mar 2024) and Rtings.com (29 Feb 2024).
Rank | Change | Price | Printer | PC Guide | reviewed.usatoday.com | BestReviews | TechRadar | PCMag | PhotoWorkout | LD Products | Digital Trends | Rtings.com | ZD Net |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - | Check price | Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 |
1 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
N/A | N/A | $298 | Brother MFC-J480DW | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
N/A | N/A | $230 | HP OfficeJet 5255 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Curious to see this month's entire Inkjet Printers ranking? It's here
Rank | Change | Price | Printer | PC Guide | reviewed.usatoday.com | BestReviews | TechRadar | PCMag | PhotoWorkout | LD Products | Digital Trends | Rtings.com | ZD Net |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - | Check price | Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 | 1 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
2 | - | $109 | Brother MFC-J1205W | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 4 | - |
3 | - | Check price | HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 |
4 | - | $135 | Brother MFC-J4335DW | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | - |
Show all rows |
Expert reviews [10]
- with a score: 4
- without a score: 6
Highest score by Lifewire | 90 |
Average score based on 10 reviews | 85 |
Lowest score by Time for Hugs | 80 |
Score distribution:
80-100 | |
60-80 | |
40-60 | |
20-40 | |
0-20 |
- Brand New in box. The product ships with all relevant accessories
- Read more
- Replaces the HP OfficeJet 4650, HP OfficeJet 5255 comes with Bluetooth Smart, improved Wi-Fi connectivity, faster print speeds and more
- Accomplish everything in your home office – This all in one wireless printer adapts to everything your work day requires: print, scan, copy and fax efficiently with a 35-page auto-document feeder, automatic two-sided printing and touchscreen
- Read more
Technical summary
Brother MFC-J480DW is a $298 wireless injket printer with a built-in scanner, copier and fax.
It supports automatic two-sided printing, borderless printing and prints at the speed of 12.0 ppm (6.0 ppm in color). It's recommended montly page volume is 525 and maximum allowed page volume is 2500.
It can scan a stack of up to 20 papers (using Automatic Document Feeder), as well as custom-sized documents (such as passports) with its flatbed scanner. It has a couple of extra perks: sending scans to an email and converting scans to PDFs.
Brother MFC-J480DW allows printing via Wi-Fi, a mobile phone/tablet, AirPrint, a USB cable and an Ethernet cable.
HP OfficeJet 5255 is a wireless injket printer with a built-in scanner, copier and fax.
It supports automatic two-sided printing, borderless printing and prints at the speed of 10.0 ppm (7.0 ppm in color). It's recommended montly page volume is 250 and maximum allowed page volume is 1000.
It can scan a stack of up to 35 papers (using Automatic Document Feeder), as well as custom-sized documents (such as passports) with its flatbed scanner. It has an extra perk of converting scans to PDFs.
HP OfficeJet 5255 allows printing via Wi-Fi, a mobile phone/tablet, AirPrint, a USB cable and an Ethernet cable.
Are they good for Occasional Home Use
- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 525 pages per month
- Built-in Scanner & Copier
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Touch Screen Status Display
- Flatbed Scanner
- ADF Scanner
- Borderless Printing
- Scan to Email
- Scan to PDF
- Colored Status Display
Are they good for Small Office Use
- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 525 pages per month
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
- Scan-To-Email
- Scan to PDF
- No TouchScreen
- Flatbed Scanner
- Fax
- No Ethernet Port
- Colored Status Display
Are they good for Heavy Office Use
- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 525 pages per month
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
- Print speed is 12 pages per minute
- Scan-To-Email
- No TouchScreen
- Scan to PDF
- Flatbed Scanner
- Fax
- No Ethernet port
- Colored Status Display
Is the price difference of $68 worth it?
- It
is a tiny bit quieter . - It
prints faster in black-and-white - It
can produce higher quality black prints - It
can produce higher quality color prints
- It is
$68.09 cheaper - It
prints faster in color - It can
scan/copy a stack of up to 35 pages , while Brother MFC-J480DWcan only go up to 20 .
- Brother MFC-J480DW
is a tiny bit quieter .When printing, HP OfficeJet 5255 has a loudness of 51 dB (decibels), while Brother MFC-J480DW measures at 50 dB.
How loud is that? We made a decibel chart for you to reference. - Brother MFC-J480DW
prints faster in black-and-white (12 vs 10 PPM)In black-and-white, Brother MFC-J480DW prints at 12 pages per minute (PPM). HP OfficeJet 5255 measures at 10 PPM.
Brother MFC-J480DW would take about 08:20 to print 100 pages, HP OfficeJet 5255 would take 10:00. - HP OfficeJet 5255
prints faster in color (7 vs 6 PPM)In color, HP OfficeJet 5255 prints at 7 pages per minute (PPM). Brother MFC-J480DW measures at 6 PPM.
HP OfficeJet 5255 would take about 14:17 to print 100 pages, Brother MFC-J480DW would take 16:40. - Brother MFC-J480DW
can produce higher quality black prints (6000 x 1200 vs 1200 x 1200 DPI)The black print DPI of Brother MFC-J480DW is 6000 x 1200. HP OfficeJet 5255 has the DPI of 1200 x 1200. What is DPI? In short: number of dots a printer "draws" per inch. Higher DPI means higher quality print. It's not the easiest thing to understand, so if print quality is very important to you, we suggest reading an article on DPI.- 600 x 600 is more than enough DPI to print any kind of documents.
- Higher DPI takes more ink to print, draining your cartridge/toner faster.
- Whenever you see 'DPI', it's actually referring to the 'maximum DPI'. Your printer will often choose to lower the DPI where necessary to conserve ink.
- Brother MFC-J480DW
can produce higher quality color prints (6000 x 1200 vs 4800 x 1200 DPI)The color print DPI of Brother MFC-J480DW is 6000 x 1200. HP OfficeJet 5255 has the DPI of 4800 x 1200.- Unless you are a professional photographer, 1200 x 600 DPI will be fine for printing photos.
- HP OfficeJet 5255 can
scan/copy a stack of up to 35 pages , while Brother MFC-J480DWcan only go up to 20 .This feature is known as 'ADF Capacity' - it's the maximum number of sheets that you can fit into the ADF paper input tray.
- Both printers
can print over Wi-Fi Printing over Wi-Fi is a very common feature, available even in most budget models. - Both printers
can print from mobile In most cases, if a printer supports wireless printing, it also supports Wi-Fi printing. - Both printers
support two-sided printing Automatic duplex printing (also known as two-sided printing) refers to a printer's ability to print on both sides of the paper, without having to manually flip it. - Both printers
have a built-in scanner & copier Scan and copy technology have a large hardware overlap. If a printer supports scanning, it will likely support copying. - Both printers
can scan/copy custom-sized documents (built-in flatbed scanner).Flatbed scanners allow scanning documents one by one. Unlike ADF scanners, you can only scan one page at a time. However, flatbed scanners allow you to scan custom-sized documents, like passports, drivers licenses, etc. Flatbed scanners also tend to produce higher quality images. - Both printers
can scan/copy stacks of documents (built-in ADF).ADF, or Automatic Document Feeder allows a printer to scan or copy a stack of pages. This feature is so important that even the cheapest printers try to include it. Technically speaking, ADF is not a feature of the printer - it is a feature of the scanner or copier. - Both printers
support two-sided scanning (duplex ADF scanner).A two-sided (duplex) ADF scanner allows scanning a stack of documents on both sides. -
Both printers have an LCD status display LCD status displays are very useful. Your printer can tell you if ink is low or paper is jammed. -
Neither printer accepts touchscreen commands Touch-screen displays allow you to interface with a printer much faster, especially scanning and copying. - Both printers are
energy star qualified .Energy Star is a set of standards that aims to reduce energy consumption of various devices. An Energy Star Qualified printer consumes less electricity to operate and is more environmentally friendly. -
Neither printer can combine scans into PDFs. This is a very important feature for those who plan to scan a lot of multi-page documents. A printer will combine the pages into a single PDF file. So instead of receiving a dozen pictures, you get one PDF. Going a step further, certain printers use embedded OCR Software (convert image to text) to create searchable PDFs. This way allows you to do computer wizardry with the resulting scan file, such as copy, paste, search, edit, etc.
The four main functions of printers are: printing, scanning, photocopying, and faxing. Either your device will be print only, print/scan/copy, or an all-in-one printer that does printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. Note that scanning and copying almost always come together, since the hardware for these features overlaps significantly. Generally speaking, all-in-one printers are larger, so those with space constraints may find this to be an inconvenience. Additionally, printers with a fax feature are typically more expensive. It would be wise to only consider this feature if you plan to fax often. If not, you’ll be satisfied with a print/scan/copy device.
Network printers can be wired or wireless. A printer with a wired network connection uses an Ethernet cord that connects directly to your router. A wireless printer connects to your home or office Wi-Fi network. Any computer also connected to your network can use your printer, whether it’s wired or wireless. You will have to install software, or printer drivers, on the computer before you can print. Also, there is a setup process for the printer to get it on the network. If your printer is not wireless, you’ll need to connect it directly to your computer via USB cable, which is not ideal if you have multiple users that need the printer simultaneously.
Outside of Wi-Fi, there are a number of ways a device can connect to a printer. If the printer is not wireless, you’ll have to connect to your printer via USB cable. Some people prefer using the wired connection because it allows for faster data transfers and quicker printing. Depending on the speed of your Wi-Fi and how strong the signal is, it can take time for the document to send from computer to printer over the network. Using a wired connection eliminates this issue. Other connections you may have are: Ethernet for wired connection to your network; Airprint or Google Cloud Print for quick direct printing over the cloud/internet; USB hard drive or memory card to print directly from storage devices; or PictBridge to print directly from cameras.
Printers with an LCD screen/display give you the option to control some settings directly on the printer, such as a one-touch print, scan, copy, or fax. You may also be able to adjust print quality, preview the print job, and/or view connection settings. Some screens are programmed to offer setup instructions for easy installation. For those who are not particularly tech savvy, this could be helpful.
- Letter
- Legal
- Executive
- A4
- A5
- A6
- Index Card (5" x 8")
- Envelope (Com-10)
- Envelope (C5)
- Envelope (DL)
- Envelope (Monarch)
- Photo (4" x 6")
- Photo (5" x 7")
- A4
- A5
- B5
- DL
- C6
- A6
- Simplex: 3 x 5 to 8.5 x 14 in
- Duplex: 3 x 5.5 to 8.5 x 12.2 in
- Up to 14 watts (Printing)
- 3.75 watts (Ready)
- 0.89 watts (Sleep)
- 0.11 watts (Off)
Brother MFC-J480DW is a popular option in the middle of the printers price range. It's in the top 3 bestselling printers and has dozens of popular alternatives in the same price range, such as Canon Pixma G2200 or Canon Maxify MB5420 .
Brother MFC-J480DW was released in 2017. There are a few newer printers on the market. Show newer Printers
Brother MFC-J480DW is $69.80 less expensive than an average printer ($367.88).
HP OfficeJet 5255 is a very popular option on the lower end of the price range. It's in the top 3 bestselling printers and has dozens of popular alternatives in the same price range, such as HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 or Epson EcoTank ET-2720 .
HP OfficeJet 5255 was released in 2018. There are a couple newer printers on the market. Show newer Printers
HP OfficeJet 5255 is $137.89 cheaper than the average printer ($367.88).