The Brother MFC-L3720CDW: Why It's the Only Printer I Recommend for Small Teams (After My $2,500 Mistake)

If you're buying a printer for a small business or team of 5-15 people, just get the Brother MFC-L3720CDW color laser all-in-one. Don't overthink it, don't chase the latest model, and for goodness' sake, don't just buy the cheapest one. I've personally ordered and managed over 200 printers in my role handling office equipment procurement for the last 7 years. I've made the "budget-friendly" mistake that cost us $2,500 in wasted hardware and downtime, and I've learned that the real cost isn't the sticker price—it's the total headache. The MFC-L3720CDW is the model that consistently avoids those headaches.

Why You Should Listen to Me (And My Expensive Errors)

I'm the guy who gets the email when the printer in Accounting is "acting up" again. I've personally made (and documented) 17 significant equipment purchasing mistakes, totaling roughly $14,200 in wasted budget and countless hours of IT support time. Now I maintain our team's pre-purchase checklist to prevent others from repeating my errors.

The disaster that cemented this happened in September 2022. I approved a "great deal" on 5 mono laser printers from a different brand for our satellite offices. They were $150 cheaper per unit than the comparable Brothers. I said "save $750." My boss heard "efficient cost-cutting." The result? Driver incompatibility issues that our IT guy spent a week troubleshooting, consumables that cost 40% more, and two units failing just outside warranty. The $750 "savings" turned into a $2,500+ problem when you factor in support time and early replacement. That's when I created our mandatory checklist.

The 3-Point Checklist That Led Me to the MFC-L3720CDw

Every printer request now gets filtered through this. If it doesn't pass all three, it's a no-go.

1. The Consumables Math Has to Work Day One

This is the biggest trap. The printer is a one-time cost; the ink or toner is a forever cost. The old thinking was "just get a cheap printer and we'll deal with the ink later." That's a budget killer.

Brother's INKvestment tanks on models like the MFC-J1010DW are a game-changer for inkjets, but for a busy small office, you want a laser. The MFC-L3720CDW uses TN-243 (black) and TN-244 (color) toner cartridges. Here's the math that matters: the high-yield TN-243Y black cartridge is rated for about 3,000 pages. At current street prices (as of January 2025), that comes out to roughly 1.8 cents per page for black. Compare that to many basic inkjets where the cost-per-page can be 5-10 cents, and you see the gap.

"Industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors. Delta E of 2-4 is noticeable to trained observers; above 4 is visible to most people. Reference: Pantone Color Matching System guidelines." While you're not doing Pantone-critical work, consistent color is key for client handouts. This laser holds calibration.

2. It Must Be a "Set It and (Mostly) Forget It" Network Citizen

The phrase "brother mfc printer drivers" is in your search keywords for a reason. Driver hell is real. The MFC-L3720CDW has been around long enough (it succeeded the L3710CW) that its drivers are mature. They're in Windows Update, they work with generic PostScript drivers for Macs, and they don't usually break after an OS update.

I once ordered 10 multi-function devices where the scanning-to-email function required a proprietary driver that only worked on 64-bit systems. We had 3 older 32-bit machines... you see the problem. We caught the error when our admin tried to set up the first one. $4,500 order, partially usable, lesson learned: always verify driver and feature compatibility across your entire existing fleet. The Brother just uses standard network scanning protocols.

3. The Physical Design Can't Create Daily Annoyances

This sounds minor until you live with it. The paper path needs to be straight. The control panel needs to be intuitive. The MFC-L3720CDW has a 250-sheet main tray and a single-pass, straight paper path for things like cardstock. This matters way more than you'd think.

Contrast this with a nightmare we had with a different all-in-one. Its paper tray required a 3-point, 45-degree bend for the paper. Every time someone printed on heavier stock for brochures, it'd jam. We'd have to power it off, open three panels, and extract crumpled, ruined cardstock. That $200 savings on the printer turned into a $1,500 problem in wasted materials, wasted time, and missed deadlines for a rush promotional mailing. The Brother's design avoids that.

Where the MFC-L3720CDW Isn't the Answer (And What Is)

I'm not saying it's magic. Here's where you'd look elsewhere, based on real needs I've seen:

• For a solo home office user printing less than 100 pages a month: The ongoing cost of color laser toner might not be justified. A Brother inkjet with INKvestment tanks (like the MFC-J1010DW you searched for) is probably more cost-effective. The toner in a laser can dry out or settle if you don't use it for months.
• For high-volume, print-for-pay situations: The duty cycle on the L3720CDW is about 2,500 pages per month. If you're routinely hitting that ceiling, you need a heavier-duty machine like a Brother MFC-L8900CDW. Pushing a printer past its duty cycle is a fast track to breakdowns.
• If you need wide-format or specialty printing: Obviously, this is a standard letter/legal device. For posters, you need a large-format printer. For garment printing, you're in a totally different category (direct-to-garment or sublimation).

Bottom line: I've ordered maybe 25 of the MFC-L3720CDW and its predecessors over the years. Maybe 22, I'd have to check the system. In that time, we've had one hardware failure (replaced under warranty) and zero driver-related crises. That's a track record that saves my team time, saves the company money on support and consumables, and most importantly, saves me from those frantic "the printer's down!" calls. It's a no-brainer for small team reliability.

(Should mention: you still need to do basic maintenance like cleaning the corona wires every few months if you're in a dusty environment. No printer is truly zero-maintenance.)