Brother MFC-J4550DW vs Epson EcoTank ET-4950
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| BrotherMFC-J4550DW | EpsonEcoTank ET-4950 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | July 2025 | September 2025 |
| Printing | ||
| Type | Inkjet | Ink tank |
| Colour | Yes | Yes |
| Speed, black | 20 pages a minute (better) | 18 pages a minute |
| Speed, colour | 19 pages a minute (better) | 9 pages a minute |
| Resolution | 1200 × 4800 dpi | 4800 × 1200 dpi |
| Prints both sides | Yes | Yes |
| Printing detail | Inkjet with pigment inks; 2-sided printing at 11 ipm black and 10 ipm colour (ISO/IEC 24734); borderless printing up to A4; 256MB memory; quiet mode | PrecisionCore print head, 400 black nozzles and 128 per colour; 3.3 pl minimum droplet; automatic 2-sided printing on A4 plain paper at 7 pages a minute black and 5 colour (ISO/IEC 24734); borderless printing; up to 35 pages a minute black and 23 colour in draft on 75 g/m² paper |
| First page out | 5.8 seconds black, 5.9 seconds colour (ISO/IEC 17629) | 8.5 seconds black, 13.5 seconds colour |
| Ink or toner | LC527 cartridges (1,300 pages black, 900 pages each colour) or LC527XL (3,000 black, 2,000 colour) | Pigment black and dye cyan, magenta and yellow in refillable tanks; 127 ml black and 70 ml colour bottles |
| Page yield | Starter cartridges in the box for about 350 black and 350 colour pages; yields declared to ISO/IEC 24711 | Ink in the box (a full set plus an extra black) prints 15,100 pages black and 5,500 colour |
| Duty cycle | Up to 2,000 pages a month recommended | Built for up to 100,000 pages over its life; warranty 12 months or 100,000 pages |
| Scanning and copying | ||
| Does | Print, Scan, Copy and Fax | Print, Scan, Copy and Fax |
| Document feeder | Yes | Yes |
| Scanner | Colour CIS scanner with A4 glass and 20-sheet document feeder; 1-sided scanning at 17 ipm mono and 7 ipm colour (ISO/IEC 17991); 1200 × 2400 dpi from the glass, 1200 × 600 dpi from the feeder; scan to USB, email, network, FTP, SFTP, file and image | Contact image sensor (CIS) with flatbed and 30-page document feeder; 2-sided scanning from the feeder; 1,200 × 2,400 dpi optical; feeder 5 ipm 1-sided and 3.5 ipm 2-sided, black or colour; flatbed A4 in 9 seconds black and 21 seconds colour; saves BMP, JPEG, PICT, TIFF, multi-TIFF, PDF and PNG |
| Copying | 13 ipm black and 10.5 ipm colour 1-sided, 5 and 4.5 ipm 2-sided (ISO/IEC 24735); first copy in 10.5 seconds black, 13 seconds colour; up to 1200 × 2400 dpi; 25–400% zoom; 2-in-1 ID copy | 2-sided copying from the document feeder (A4 plain paper) |
| Fax | 14,400 bps G3; PC-Fax send and receive; 180-page memory; broadcast to up to 50 locations | Black-and-white and colour fax at up to 33.6 kbps (about 3 seconds a page); 100 speed dials; 100-page memory; PC fax, broadcast, fax preview, polling reception |
| Paper | ||
| Largest paper | A4 | A4 |
| Paper tray | 400 sheets (better) | 250 sheets |
| Paper sizes | Input 150-sheet tray and 250-sheet lower tray, plus a 1-sheet manual feed slot; tray 1 A4, Letter, Legal, Folio, Executive, A5, A6, 10 × 15 cm, 9 × 13 cm, 13 × 20 cm and envelopes C5, COM-10, DL and Monarch; lower tray A4, Letter, Legal, Executive, A5 and Folio; document feeder 139.7–215.9 mm wide by 148–355.6 mm long; 2-sided A4, Letter, Executive and A5 | A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, Letter, 10 × 15 cm, 13 × 18 cm, envelopes (No. 10, DL, C6) |
| Paper types | Tray 1 plain, inkjet, glossy and recycled paper, 64–220 gsm; lower tray plain and recycled, 64–120 gsm; manual feed slot 64–300 gsm; document feeder 64–90 gsm; 2-sided 64–105 gsm | 64–300 g/m² (300 g/m² with Epson Ultra Glossy Photo Paper) |
| Output tray | 100 sheets | 30 sheets; opens automatically when a job starts |
| Connections | ||
| Connects by | Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct and USB | Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct and USB |
| Connection detail | Hi-Speed USB 2.0; front USB host port; Fast Ethernet (10/100); Wi-Fi 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n and 5GHz 802.11a/n; Wi-Fi Direct; WPS | USB; Ethernet; Wi-Fi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) on 2.4 and 5 GHz; Wi-Fi Direct; WPA3 |
| Printing from phones | Apple AirPrint (print and scan), Mopria, Brother Print Service Plugin; Brother Web Connect for Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, Evernote and SharePoint Online | Apple AirPrint, Mopria Print Service, Mopria Scan, Epson Connect (Email Print, Remote Print Driver, Scan-to-Cloud) |
| App | Brother Mobile Connect (Android, iPhone and iPad) | Epson Smart Panel |
| Control panel | 6.8cm (2.7″) colour touchscreen | 6.1 cm colour touchscreen |
| Design | ||
| Weight | 10.4 kg | 7.3 kg |
| Power use | 22 W copying, 3.5 W ready, 0.9 W sleep, 0.1 W off | 15 W copying (ISO/IEC 24712), 7.4 W ready, 0.7 W sleep, 0.1 W off; TEC 0.1 kWh a week |
| Noise | 54 dB(A) printing (sound pressure) | – |
| Size | 440 × 355 × 250 mm (W × D × H) on the UK spec page; the datasheet gives 435 mm wide | 375 × 347 × 240 mm (W × D × H) |
| In the box | Printer, starter ink cartridges, power cord, quick setup guide, warranty card | Printer, one set of ink bottles (127 ml black; 70 ml cyan, magenta and yellow) plus an extra black, power cable, quick setup guide, warranty document |
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