Is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 the best value home office printer? Or is it overpriced and underperforming?
Is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 the best value printer of 2018?
The WF-4740 comes with an MSRP of $299 and is a more robust version of the Epson WF-4720. This is an all in one inkjet printer that is designed for a small business or home office.
EDIT 04/20/2018: As a commenter has notified us, we had an inaccuracy in our original review. We stated the WF-4740 has a single-pass auto document scanner, but it does not. The WF-4740 does have automatic two-sided scanning, but it is not single-pass. We apologize for the misinformation. If ever you see an inaccuracy in one of our articles, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Featuring a larger color touch screen, a larger document feeder which supports two-sided scanning, and twice the paper input capacity of the WF-4720, this printer checks many of the boxes value customers are looking for. But is it the printer you are looking for? Let’s get into it.
The PROS:
The Design
There are many business models of color inkjet all-in-one printers on
the market, like the HP OfficeJet Pro 6978. However, among them, the Epson WF-4740 stands out because of its well-rounded capabilities and features. The printer isn’t only fast and provides excellent quality but it also comes with a stylish design. It provides a total capacity of 500 sheets through its two paper-input trays. The 50-sheet auto-document feeder provides automatic two-sided copying, printing, and scanning.
The Epson WF-4740 All-in-One’s design is optimized to take
up the least space possible. The printer is just 15.3 inches deep, 16.7 inches
wide and 13 inches high, when closed. That is inches smaller in every dimension when compared to the HP OfficeJet Pro 8710. When it’s not needed, you can lay the
control panel vertically flat against the printer. Or, if you need better
viewing and access, it can swing outward 90 degrees.
Features
The Epson WF-4740 control panel features a bright and easy to read 4.3-inch touchscreen. Resets, Fax, Scan, and Copy large icons also include text labels. This way, it’s very easy to access the printer’s main functions. By swiping the touchscreen users can get access to three additional large icons: Settings, Maintenance, and Memory Device. The user-interface is easy to use overall and familiar to users of previous models.
The Epson WorkForce Pro comes with all connectivity options covered. It includes a full range of wireless options such as NFC, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct printing. It also allows for a direct connection via USB or Ethernet. Mobile connectivity features include Epson Remote Print, Epson Email Print, Epson Print, Apple AirPrint, Android printing, Creative Print App, Google Cloud Print, Fire OS printing, Scan to Cloud, and Mopria. Basically, no matter which proprietary mobile print software you’re into, this printer supports it.
Performance
The WorkForce Pro WF-4740 once again features Epson’s PrecisionCore technology. PrecisionCore is faster and more precise than print heads found in competing inkjet printers. The Epson WF-4740 can print as much as 22 pages per minute (ppm) for color pages and 24 ppm for monochrome pages. This means you won’t be late for meetings waiting for your graphs to print.
Overall, the Epson WF-4740 offers a performance beyond laser. The speed and print quality are excellent. The PrecisionCore technology allows printing highly legible and well-shaped text that is competing with many of its laser counterparts. The text output of Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 is highly suitable for most business or home office scenarios.
When comparing the price of this printer to the performance delivered, I’ve found it truly is the best value printer for many home office customers.
Cost of ownership
It is the overall cost of ownership which puts this printer in contention for the best value printer of 2018. With a $299 price tag, the WF-4740 is similar in price to most competing models. Using the new 802 series, the Epson Workforce Pro WF-4740 costs as little as two cents per page for black prints and six cents per page for color. At 1000 pages per month of black and color for three years, you would have a $3180 total cost of ownership. That is comparable to any competing models in this class, with the print and scan quality you’ve come to expect from Epson.
The CONS:
The cons for the WF-4740 are few and far between. I’ve had a few customers complain that an MSRP of $299 is a bit high. However, if you keep an eye out for sales, you can often find this printer for under $200.
Other than that, there are a few features which people are missing in this printer. The output tray holds about eighty pages, which is a bit small for large jobs. This printer also lacks some advanced business features, such as employee project tracking and advanced job storage options. Lastly, there is no multipurpose bypass tray, which many customers want for printing on envelopes or cardstock.
The VERDICT:
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 is the best value printer for home offices or small business in 2018.
With the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740, users get affordable running costs, fast
printing, a wide range of mobile connectivity options, and great auto-duplexing
options. Compared with other printers in its class, the Epson WF-4740
delivers a larger range of functionality and features for a very reasonable price.
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 All-In-One color inkjet printer comes with almost everything you may ever need. The price per page is very affordable and the printer’s price provides a great total cost of ownership. From a price to performance perspective, this is definitely the best value printer of 2018 so far. With the heavy-duty performance, I highly recommend the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 for home offices or small businesses printing less than 1000 pages per month.
Click here to purchase the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4740 on Amazon
The Epson WF-4740 does NOT have single-pass 2-sided scanning.
Thank you for letting us know we made a mistake; we have edited the review to reflect your comments. We always strive to be honest, sorry for the misinformation. If you or anyone ever sees any inaccuracies in our articles, please reach out to us so we can fix it.
Thanks again,
Joe
This printer is very nice, but I can’t find any information on whether it prints onto cardstock. Does it?
You can print on cardstock, but they don’t explicitly advertise it. This is because anything over 65lb is hard on printers. Most office-style printers will print on cardstock with some finagling.
This printer is frustrating. Hard to set up to email a scan. Always losing the network, drinks toner like water. Support site is pretty generic. This can’t possibly be the best value on the market. Any other recommendations?
I purchased this printer based on reviews that I had read in 2018. The printer/scanner combo worked well for awhile. However, after only 1.5 years of light use, the unit popped up a scanner error 10016 which paralyzed the scanning part of the printer. I have Googled and viewed all of the data on this error as well as try to contact Epson and have found out that this is a result of a hardware problem and after trying all of the suggested fixes, nothing I have done has fixed it. I have contacted a printer repair company and they advised just to buy another printer as the cost to repair will be greater. I am very disappointed with this and will never by Epson printers again.
Just one thing that is puzzling me after reading a number of reviews, what is the difference between the WF-4720 and the WF-7720 besides the size they print and scan?
These two printers are exactly the same price but the WF-7720 can print 13×19″ and scan 11×17″ so are things the 4720 does that the 7720 can’t? More importantly are these differences in print quality and durability, particularly since they use different inks?
Hi Itai, the WF-4720 uses more efficient ink than the WF-7720, so it saves you more money in the long run. The 4720 is built for higher volume, but can’t print larger than legal size.
I purchased the WF-4740 to use in my accounting and tax preparation business. I do a lot of printing, and a lot of scanning to a memory device because I don’t keep confidential client data on my computer’s hard drive.
The major complaint I have with this printer is that scanning using the ADF feeder is nearly useless when you have various size and quality documents such as you get with tax files. If you don’t stand there and hand-feed, very slowly, each document individually, you will surely get a document feed jam. The bigger problem is that you lose all of the documents you have already scanned, and you have to start all over. A major time-waster!!
Also, the ink for this printer is pretty darn expensive when you are doing high-volume printing. I would not buy this printer again.
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