Brother MFC-J5340DW Ink Cartridges

Brother MFC-J5340DW Review: A Powerful A3 Business Inkjet

The Brother MFC-J5340DW occupies an interesting position in the printer market. It isn't a budget home printer, and it isn't a high-end office machine costing thousands of dollars. Instead, it sits in the sweet spot for small businesses, home offices, tradespeople, accountants, architects, real estate agencies, and anyone who regularly prints professional documents and occasionally needs A3 output.

While many buyers immediately gravitate towards laser printers for office use, the MFC-J5340DW makes a compelling case for business inkjet technology. It offers fast print speeds, A3 printing capability, automatic duplex printing, scanning, copying, faxing, and surprisingly competitive running costs.

After spending time examining the printer's capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, it's easy to understand why the MFC-J5340DW has become one of Brother's most popular business inkjet models.

Overview

The Brother MFC-J5340DW is an A3-capable colour inkjet multifunction printer designed primarily for business users. Unlike many consumer inkjets that focus on photo printing, this machine is built around productivity and document output.

It can print up to A3 size, while scanning and copying are limited to A4 documents. This distinction is important because many buyers assume that an A3 printer automatically includes A3 scanning capability. In the case of the MFC-J5340DW, the scanner is A4 only.

The printer includes printing, scanning, copying and fax functionality, making it a true all-in-one device suitable for small business environments.

Key Specifications

• Colour inkjet multifunction printer
• Print, scan, copy and fax functions
• A3 printing support
• A4 scanning and copying
• Print speeds up to 28 images per minute
• Automatic duplex printing
• 250-sheet paper tray
• 50-sheet automatic document feeder
• Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity
• 2.7-inch colour touchscreen
• Mobile printing support
• High-yield ink cartridge support

Brother rates the printer at up to 28 pages per minute for both black and colour printing, with a first-page-out time as low as 4.4 seconds.

Design and Build Quality

The first thing you'll notice about the MFC-J5340DW is that it is considerably larger than a typical home printer.

That shouldn't come as a surprise given its ability to print A3 documents, but it's something buyers should consider before purchasing. You'll need a dedicated location rather than simply placing it on a small shelf or corner desk.

Despite its size, the machine feels solid and well engineered. The paper tray slides smoothly, the scanner lid feels sturdy, and the overall construction gives the impression of a machine designed for years of regular use.

Brother has also kept the design refreshingly simple. There are no unnecessary gimmicks or overly complicated controls. The touchscreen interface is responsive and easy to navigate, even for less technical users.

This is very much a business-focused printer designed around practicality rather than aesthetics.

Setup and Installation

One area where Brother consistently performs well is setup, and the MFC-J5340DW is no exception.

Whether connecting via USB, Ethernet, or wireless networking, installation is straightforward. The touchscreen guides users through the setup process, and most people should be printing within minutes.

Wireless connectivity is reliable and supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Ethernet support is particularly valuable for business environments where stable network connectivity is a priority.

The printer also supports:

• Apple AirPrint
• Mopria
• Brother Mobile Connect
• Wi-Fi Direct
• Cloud printing services

The ability to print directly from smartphones and tablets works well and removes much of the frustration traditionally associated with mobile printing.

Print Performance

Print speed is one of the strongest aspects of the MFC-J5340DW.

Many people still associate inkjet printers with slow performance, but modern business inkjets have largely eliminated that problem.

The MFC-J5340DW is capable of producing up to 28 pages per minute, placing it surprisingly close to many entry-level laser printers. For everyday business documents, reports, invoices, quotations, presentations, and forms, it rarely feels slow.

The printer also benefits from Brother's MaxiDrive printhead technology, which was specifically designed to improve speed, durability, and consistency. Brother promotes this as a long-life printhead system aimed at business users who require dependable performance.

For most small businesses, the printer offers more than enough speed for daily workloads.

Print Quality

Print quality is where the MFC-J5340DW begins to distinguish itself from many monochrome laser printers.

Black text is sharp, clean, and highly readable. Business documents look professional and are easily suitable for client-facing work.

Colour output is also impressive for an office-oriented machine. Charts, graphs, marketing materials, brochures, presentations, and proposals all benefit from the vibrant colour reproduction.

Unlike many laser printers that can make colours appear somewhat flat, the MFC-J5340DW produces documents with strong colour saturation and good detail.

Photographs are not its primary focus, but casual photo printing is more than acceptable for occasional business use.

If your work involves regularly producing colour presentations, sales proposals, architectural drawings, or promotional materials, the difference compared to a monochrome laser printer is substantial.

A3 Printing Capability

The headline feature of the MFC-J5340DW is undoubtedly its ability to print up to A3 size.

This feature alone can justify the purchase for many businesses.

A3 printing opens up possibilities that standard A4 printers simply cannot offer. Users can print:

• Large spreadsheets
• Architectural drawings
• Construction plans
• Engineering diagrams
• Marketing posters
• Real estate signage
• Presentation materials
• Wide-format reports

Having A3 capability available on demand eliminates the need to outsource many printing jobs to local print shops.

For businesses that only occasionally require larger documents, this can generate significant savings over time.

Scanning and Copying Performance

The scanner performs well for everyday office tasks.

Scanned documents are sharp and accurate, with good colour reproduction and clear text rendering.

The automatic document feeder makes multi-page scanning and copying significantly easier than manually placing pages on the flatbed scanner.

However, one limitation is worth mentioning.

While the printer supports A3 printing, scanning is limited to A4 documents. Additionally, the automatic document feeder does not support single-pass duplex scanning, meaning double-sided originals require additional handling compared to higher-end Brother models.

For most small businesses this won't be a major issue, but organisations that perform large amounts of document digitisation may prefer stepping up to the MFC-J5740DW or another model with duplex scanning capabilities.

Paper Handling

The 250-sheet paper tray is suitable for most small office environments. It reduces the need for frequent refilling while remaining compact enough to keep the printer's overall footprint manageable.

Automatic duplex printing is included as standard, allowing double-sided documents to be produced without manual intervention. This helps reduce paper usage and gives documents a more professional appearance.

The manual feed slot is also useful for specialty media, including envelopes, labels, and heavier paper stocks.

Overall paper handling is reliable, with relatively few reports of paper jams when quality paper is used.

Running Costs and Ink Consumption

Running costs are often where business printers succeed or fail.

The MFC-J5340DW performs well in this area, particularly when compared to many consumer-focused cartridge printers.

Brother offers high-yield cartridges capable of producing up to approximately 3,000 black pages and 1,500 colour pages, helping to keep operating costs under control.

For moderate business use, these yields are respectable and significantly reduce the frequency of cartridge replacements.

Using Compatible Ink Cartridges

Many owners choose compatible ink cartridges to further reduce operating costs.

When sourced from reputable suppliers, compatible cartridges can provide substantial savings compared to genuine Brother cartridges.

However, unlike many Brother laser printers that are widely praised for their compatibility with third-party consumables, users should be aware that they need to purchase their non compatible inks from a reliable source such as Ink Hub. By doing this you will avoid compatibility issues as our cartridges are always up to date and compatible with the latest firmware versions.

For businesses considering compatible cartridges, choosing a trusted supplier is particularly important.

Reliability

One of Brother's strongest selling points has always been reliability.

The MFC-J5340DW generally continues that tradition.

The MaxiDrive printhead system was specifically designed to improve durability and long-term performance in business environments.

While all inkjet printers require occasional maintenance, users generally report dependable day-to-day operation when the printer is used regularly.

As with any inkjet, prolonged periods of inactivity are not ideal. Users who print every week or two should experience few issues, but extremely infrequent printing may eventually lead to maintenance cycles and increased ink consumption.

Pros

• Excellent A3 printing capability
• Fast print speeds for an inkjet printer
• Strong colour document quality
• Sharp black text output
• Automatic duplex printing
• Ethernet and wireless networking
• Useful touchscreen interface
• 250-sheet paper tray
• Good mobile printing support
• Suitable for business environments

Cons

• Large physical footprint
• A4 scanner only despite A3 print capability
• No duplex scanning through the ADF
• Genuine ink cartridges can be expensive
• Not designed as a dedicated photo printer

Who Should Buy the Brother MFC-J5340DW?

The MFC-J5340DW is ideally suited to businesses and professionals who regularly print colour documents and occasionally need A3 output.

It is particularly well suited to:

• Home offices
• Small businesses
• Real estate agencies
• Tradespeople
• Architects
• Engineers
• Consultants
• Accountants
• Schools and educational organisations

If your primary requirement is inexpensive black-and-white printing, a Brother laser printer will likely be a better choice. However, if you need colour output and occasional A3 printing, the MFC-J5340DW offers significantly greater flexibility.

Final Verdict

The Brother MFC-J5340DW is one of the most practical A3 business inkjet printers available today.

Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, it focuses on delivering what most businesses actually need: reliable printing, strong colour output, useful office features, fast performance, and affordable A3 capability.

Its limitations are relatively minor and mostly relate to the scanner rather than the printing system itself. The inability to scan A3 documents and the lack of duplex scanning may disappoint some users, but for the majority of small businesses these shortcomings are unlikely to be deal-breakers.

For organisations looking for a capable A3 colour multifunction printer without stepping into the significantly higher price bracket of enterprise devices, the Brother MFC-J5340DW represents excellent value and remains one of the strongest options in its category.