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Just like the DCP 315-CN it has some rather good translation software however this review is about the ability to scan - copy - print and while the scan feature is used with the translation module that - to me anyway - is an add on to add value.

Software installation is quite quick given that it installs Paper Port software (for scanning) before the printer driver and the total amount of hard disc used is just a tad over 300MB.

This module is both a page and flat bed scanner and while I was perfectly happy with pages scanned I was more concerned with those on the flatbed where pages from books and magazines are the likely uses. I found that the scanner often had a shadow when thicker items were being scanned.

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The unit is 33x36x16cm and light enough to move easily. Brother have the USB or network lead connecting well inside the unit and then following a path to the right rear of the case so you could find leads being quite taught for connection if the unit is to the right of the PC. You could of course add a USB extender lead. The power lead plugs in to the back left of the unit.

The four ink cartridges supplied are of a good size and easy to fit in the unit.

As a stand alone copy machine it is adequate for the occasional copy however if you turn it on when you wish to use it you will probably have a wait while it does a cleaning cycle. So one off copy times are not that appealing, the copy quality through the sheet feed are fine but book or magazine copies need careful setup.

The right front edge has 15 buttons and a two line 5x1.5cm two line LCD that at certain angles is very hard to read. There are card slots for most card types on the front of the unit above the paper store (stated at 100 sheets) and printed sheets are delivered face up on a shelf above the paper store.

Printing from the cards is not fast, however it's a lot faster than using a PC, this seems to be achieved by reducing the print quality as I printed photos at A4 direct from cards and while the foreground images were okay there was a distinct lack of depth to the images. Yes you can adjust settings via the two line LCD display but it is quite time intensive.

I've put off the appalling print speeds from the PC long enough, these are perhaps the worst point of this unit. Printing the 200 word document that all manufacturers seem to think is the holy grail of timings, this is produced in 'fast' mode it is very grey in colour and came in at 12PPM. Printing a more normal 1500 word document over four pages produced the same output colour at 9PPM.

Now the images, printing 4 images on an A4 page using Windows Photo Print Wizard gives 9x13cm images and these printed in 16 minutes. A full page image printed borderless in 24 and a half minutes. The quality was okay and no doubt you are fed up with me saying only quality matters to me not time I think I must add a 'within reason' to that. Some units can print similar quality images in less than three minutes, I am happy at anything less than ten minutes providing the quality is there after that I must say it's slow here it is excruciatingly slow.   

I can find little to recommend this unit and believe me I've tried. Copying for the occasional copy is slow because of the cleaning cycle, printing is slow and scanning is a work of art to avoid shadows when doing so from magazines or books. The likely price is £133 there are far better multi function units around at the price. If this still is of interest www.pixmania.co.uk have a special offer on it for £102.40.

http://www.brother.co.uk/g3.cfm/s_page/50670/s_level/16990/s_product/DCP340CWU1