Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer Review: The Home Office Workhorse Under Scrutiny

In today’s world, the line between home and office has become beautifully, and sometimes chaotically, blurred. I remember a particularly frantic Tuesday afternoon, trying to print a 15-page client contract, scan receipts for an expense report, and print my daughter’s history project—all before a 3 PM video call. My old, single-function printer was groaning under the pressure, demanding a constant dance of swapping cables, feeding single pages into the scanner, and praying the Wi-Fi connection wouldn’t drop for the fifth time. It was a bottleneck, a source of daily friction that turned simple tasks into time-consuming chores. This is the modern home office dilemma: the need for a device that can seamlessly handle the diverse demands of work, school, and personal life without occupying half the desk. The quest isn’t just for a printer; it’s for a reliable, multi-talented command centre, and the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer promises to be just that.

What to Consider Before Buying an All-in-One Printer

An All-in-One Printer is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for consolidating tasks and reclaiming valuable space and time. It tackles the inefficiency of having separate devices for printing, scanning, and copying, merging them into a single, connected hub. The main benefits are undeniable: cost savings over buying multiple machines, a significantly smaller physical footprint, and the streamlined workflow of managing everything from one central point. For the busy professional, the diligent student, or the organised family, an all-in-one is the engine that keeps the household’s document management running smoothly.

The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing a constant mix of document needs. Think of the small business owner who needs to print invoices, copy contracts, and scan receipts, or the parent juggling work reports with creative school projects. It’s for those who value efficiency and connectivity, wanting to print from a laptop one minute and a smartphone the next. However, it might not be suitable for those with highly specialised needs, such as a professional photographer who requires gallery-quality photo prints far exceeding standard inkjet capabilities, or a large office that needs the raw speed and volume handling of a commercial laser printer. For them, a dedicated photo printer or a high-capacity laser machine would be a more appropriate investment.

Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:

• Dimensions & Space: Measure your intended space carefully. While all-in-ones are designed to be compact, models with features like an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) can have a larger vertical profile. The Brother DCP-J1360DW measures a modest 34.3D x 39W x 18.3H centimetres, making it a good fit for smaller desks, but always account for the extra space needed to open scanner lids and access paper trays.
• Capacity/Performance: Look beyond just print speed. Consider the paper tray capacity—150 sheets is standard for home use but might be insufficient for a busy small office. An ADF, like the 20-sheet one on this model, is a non-negotiable feature for anyone who regularly scans or copies multi-page documents, saving immense time and effort. Also, check for automatic duplex (2-sided) printing, a key feature for saving paper and creating professional-looking documents.
• Materials & Durability: The build quality of a printer often correlates with its longevity. Most home printers are constructed from plastic, but the feel and sturdiness can vary. Pay attention to the moving parts like the paper tray and scanner hinge. While we don’t expect a metal chassis at this price point, the components should feel solid and not flimsy. Some user feedback on this model has raised concerns about long-term durability, making this an important point to consider.
• Ease of Use & Maintenance: A printer should simplify your life, not complicate it. Look for intuitive controls, a clear display screen, and, most importantly, a robust mobile app for seamless wireless printing and scanning. Ongoing maintenance primarily involves ink replacement. Understand the type of cartridges used, their page yield, and their cost. Some printers are tied to subscription services, which can be cost-effective for heavy users but an unnecessary expense for others.

Keeping these factors in mind, the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer stands out in several areas, particularly with its feature set for the price. You can explore its detailed specifications and features here to see how it stacks up against your checklist.

While the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer is an excellent choice, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:

First Impressions and Key Features: Compact Competence

Unboxing the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer, the first thing we noticed was its compact and tidy design. It’s surprisingly small for a machine packing print, scan, and copy functions, along with an ADF. The all-black, slightly textured finish is sleek and unobtrusive, designed to blend into a home office environment rather than dominate it. The setup process was straightforward. After removing the requisite blue transit tapes, plugging it in, and inserting the four initial ink cartridges, the 4.5cm colour LCD screen guided us through the initialisation. The screen is small, and you’ll primarily use the physical buttons to navigate, but it’s clear enough for basic operations and connecting to a Wi-Fi network.

The build quality, however, gave us a moment of pause. While perfectly functional, the plastics feel lighter and less substantial than some older Brother models we’ve tested. This sentiment was echoed by a few users who felt it was a step down in quality. The paper tray slides out smoothly, but the output support feels a bit delicate. These are common trade-offs in the budget all-in-one category, but it’s something to be aware of. The real star of the initial setup was the Brother Mobile Connect app, which made connecting our smartphones and laptops to the printer an absolute breeze, a far cry from the driver-hunting nightmares of years past.

A Deep Dive into the Brother DCP-J1360DW’s Performance

A printer’s value is ultimately decided not by its spec sheet, but by how it performs day in and day out. We put the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer through a rigorous series of tests, simulating a demanding home office environment to see where it excels and where it falls short.

Print Quality and Speed: The Everyday Document Test

For any home office printer, the bread and butter is text document printing. Brother claims speeds of up to 16 images per minute (ipm) for mono and 9 ipm for colour. In our testing, we found these figures to be reasonably accurate when printing simple documents in standard quality mode. A 10-page text-heavy PDF printed in just under a minute, with the first page out in about 10 seconds. The text itself was sharp and crisp, with clean edges that are more than suitable for professional reports, school essays, and general correspondence. Where we saw a slight divergence was in mixed-content documents containing both text and graphics. The printer slowed down noticeably as it processed the colour images, but the output remained consistent.

However, we have to address a concern raised by some users regarding print quality on standard, inexpensive copy paper. We did observe that on lower-grade 75gsm paper, there was a minor amount of ink bleed, making text appear slightly less sharp than on premium 90gsm inkjet paper. For internal drafts this is perfectly acceptable, but for a final client proposal, investing in better quality paper makes a significant difference. Photo printing was a pleasant surprise. While it will never compete with a dedicated six-ink photo printer, the 1200 x 6000 DPI resolution produced vibrant and reasonably detailed 4×6 photos on glossy photo paper. Colours were well-saturated, and it’s a great feature for occasional family snapshots or creative projects.

Scanning and Copying Efficiency: The ADF Advantage

This is where the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer truly begins to justify its position in a busy home office. The 20-sheet Automatic Document Feeder is a game-changer. We tested it with a 12-page, double-sided document that needed to be scanned to a PDF. The ADF fed each page through smoothly without a single jam, turning a tedious manual task into a simple “set it and forget it” operation. The scanner captures good detail for documents, and the ability to scan directly to a PC, a cloud service, or a smartphone via the app is incredibly versatile.

The flatbed scanner underneath is perfect for more delicate items like old photographs, book pages, or IDs. Copying performance was equally solid. We clocked black-and-white copies at around 11 pages per minute, and the quality was a faithful reproduction of the original. The ability to resize, collate, and make multiple copies directly from the control panel is intuitive. For anyone who has ever stood over a flatbed scanner, lifting the lid for every single page of a long document, the value of the ADF cannot be overstated. It transforms the device from a simple printer into a genuine productivity tool.

Connectivity and Software: The Brains of the Operation

A modern printer is only as good as its connection, and Brother has done an excellent job here. The inclusion of 5GHz Wi-Fi support is a notable upgrade, providing a more stable and less congested connection compared to older 2.4GHz-only printers, especially in apartment buildings or homes crowded with wireless devices. The setup via the Brother Mobile Connect app was flawless. The app automatically found the printer, guided us through the Wi-Fi connection process, and had us up and running in minutes. The app itself is the true heart of the user experience. It allows you to print documents and photos directly from your phone, check ink levels, initiate scans, and even order supplies. We particularly liked the integration with cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox, which allowed us to access and print a file stored online without even needing to turn on our laptop. This level of mobile integration, as one user happily noted, is what makes a modern all-in-one so powerful.

Ink Economy and Long-Term Costs: The Achilles’ Heel?

Here we arrive at the most contentious aspect of the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer. The initial setup cartridges are, as is industry standard, very low yield, providing only about 200 pages. This is something to be aware of—you will be buying new ink sooner rather than later. The standard replacement cartridges, the LC521 series, are rated for up to 500 pages. For a family or a busy home office, this can feel frustratingly short-lived, leading to frequent replacement and a higher-than-expected cost per page. This is the most common and potent criticism we found in user feedback.

Furthermore, we confirmed the frustrating operational quirk where the printer will cease to print in black and white if any one of the colour cartridges runs out. This is a deliberate design choice by many manufacturers to protect the printhead, but it feels restrictive and can halt work unexpectedly. Several users reported issues with the printer not recognising genuine cartridges or incorrectly reporting them as empty, leading to waste and frustration. While we did not experience this during our testing period, the frequency of these reports suggests potential quality control or firmware issues. Brother offers an EcoPro ink subscription service, which may offer better value for high-volume users, but it’s crucial to assess your printing habits before committing. This ink system is, without a doubt, the printer’s biggest weakness and a significant factor to weigh in your purchase decision.

What Other Users Are Saying

Synthesizing feedback from various owners provides a crucial real-world perspective. On the positive side, many users praise the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer for its easy setup and excellent wireless functionality. One user highlighted how well it integrated with applications like Word and allowed direct printing from cloud storage, which aligns perfectly with our positive experience with the Mobile Connect app. A German-speaking user noted the installation was relatively quick and that printing and scanning from both a mobile phone and a PC over Wi-Fi worked seamlessly once the app was installed.

However, the negative feedback is significant and centres on two main areas: ink and build quality. A highly critical review pointed out “pretty bad” print quality on regular paper, “super small” ink cartridges that “last very short time,” and constant issues with the printer not recognising cartridges. This user’s frustration is palpable and serves as a strong warning about the potential running costs. Other reports mentioned receiving units that appeared to be refurbished or damaged, raising concerns about quality control during distribution. Most alarmingly, there are isolated but serious reports of long-term reliability issues, including one user whose printer stopped accepting ink cartridges after a few months and another who reported the keyboard melting after two years, posing a potential safety risk. This feedback paints a picture of a feature-rich device potentially let down by its consumables and long-term durability.

How Does It Compare? The Brother DCP-J1360DW vs. The Competition

No product exists in a vacuum. To truly understand its value, we must compare the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer against its key rivals in the market.

1. HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Printer

The HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 is in a different league, aimed at users with more demanding needs. Its killer feature is wide-format A3 printing and scanning, making it an excellent choice for those who work with spreadsheets, architectural drawings, or large graphics. It boasts a larger 35-sheet ADF and a more substantial 250-sheet paper tray. It’s a bigger, more robust machine built for higher volume. Someone should choose the HP 7740 over the Brother if they frequently need to print larger than A4 and require a more office-grade workhorse. The trade-off is its significantly larger footprint and higher initial cost.

2. Canon PIXMA TS3750i Wireless All-in-One Printer

The Canon PIXMA TS3750i represents the more budget-friendly end of the spectrum. It offers the core functions of printing, scanning, and copying in a very compact package, but it makes several compromises. It lacks an Automatic Document Feeder and automatic duplex printing, meaning you’ll be manually flipping pages for double-sided prints and multi-page scans. Its print speeds are also lower. This printer is best suited for the very occasional user—a student in a dorm or a family that prints only a few pages a week. The Brother DCP-J1360DW is a major step up in terms of productivity features and is worth the extra investment for anyone with even moderate printing needs.

3. Canon MAXIFY MB5150 Multifunction Inkjet Printer

The Canon MAXIFY MB5150 is arguably the most direct competitor to the Brother for the serious home or small office. It out-muscles the Brother in several key areas, offering a much larger 50-sheet ADF, a generous 250-sheet paper capacity, and faster print speeds. It also includes fax functionality, which may still be essential for some businesses. The Canon is built for higher volume and greater efficiency. A user would choose the MAXIFY MB5150 if their daily workload involves heavy scanning and printing and they cannot afford downtime to refill a small paper tray. The Brother, in contrast, wins on its more compact size and potentially lower initial purchase price.

Final Verdict: A Capable but Compromised Home Office Hub

After extensive testing and consideration, our verdict on the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer is one of qualified recommendation. On one hand, it packs an impressive array of productivity features—an ADF, automatic duplexing, and superb wireless connectivity—into a compact and stylish body. For a home user or a small office where space is at a premium, its versatility is a major asset. The mobile app is a joy to use and genuinely makes printing and scanning from any device a seamless experience.

On the other hand, the significant concerns surrounding its ink system and long-term durability cannot be ignored. The high cost and low yield of its ink cartridges, combined with the operational frustrations and user reports of reliability issues, cast a shadow over its excellent features. It’s a classic case of a potentially great product being held back by its running costs and questions about its lifespan. We recommend it for users who will heavily leverage the ADF and mobile features for productivity but have moderate print volume. If you’re a heavy printer, the ongoing cost of ink may quickly outweigh the initial value.

If you’ve decided the feature set of the Brother DCP-J1360DW Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer is the right fit for your home office needs, and you’re prepared for the ink costs, you can check its current price and availability right here.