If you think of the Brother MFC-J650DW as a cut-down version of the Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J870DW, you won't be far off. It has all the same core multifunction printer (MFP) features, including scanning from and faxing to a PC and working as a standalone copier and fax machine. It leaves out more than you might expect from such a small price difference. But if you don't need any of the extras, there's no point in paying for them.
The flashiest feature the MFC-J650DW leaves out is near-field communication (NFC) support. NFC makes printing from a mobile device impressively easy. However, if you don't have a phone or tablet that supports NFC, you won't be able to use it in any case.
Also under the category of connection choices that the Brother MFC-J870DW has but the MFC-J650DW doesn't are Ethernet and Wi-Fi Direct. The MFC-J650DW offers Wi-Fi, so you can connect it to a network, but wirelessly only. It also offers some mobile printing features (more on those later), so you can print to it from mobile devices. However, it doesn't have Wi-Fi Direct, which means that if you connect it to your computer by USB cable, rather than connect it to your network by Wi-Fi, you can't use any of the mobile print options.
The last key feature that the Brother MFC-J870DW has and the MFC-J650DW doesn't is the ability to print on printable optical discs. As with all of these extras, this may or may not be something you need. What's certain is that if you don't need the extras, not having them won't matter.
Basics
The MFC-J650DW's core MFP features include printing and faxing from, along with scanning to, a PC and also working as a standalone copier and fax machine. The 2.7-inch touch-screen based front panel menu helps make it easy to give commands for copying and faxing; for scanning and sending a file as an email attachment, using the email program on your PC; and more.
If the printer is connected to your network and your network is connected to the Web, the menus also let you connect to an assortment of Web sites. Some, including Picasa Web Albums, are primarily of interest for home use. Others, including Google Drive, Evernote, Box, Dropbox, and, to a lesser extent, Flickr and Facebook, are more office-oriented.
Photo-centric features include the ability to print directly from PictBridge cameras, memory cards, and USB memory keys, as well as view photos before printing on the front-panel LCD. You can also scan directly to memory cards and USB keys.
Paper handling is best described as limited but capable. The key limitation is that the paper tray holds only 100 sheets, with no upgrade options. That should be sufficient for most personal use, but if you share the printer on a network, you're likely to find that refilling the tray turns into an annoying chore.
Partly making up for the low capacity is a 20-sheet photo-paper tray for 4-by-6 photo paper, so you can switch between plain paper and photos easily. Another nice touch is automatic duplexing (for printing on both sides of a page). Paper handling choices for scanning include a letter-size flatbed and a 20-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) that can handle up to legal-size paper.
Setup, Speed, and Output Quality
Setup for the MFC-J650DW is absolutely standard. For my tests, I connected it by USB cable to a system running Windows Vista. Not too surprisingly, on our business applications suite (timed using QualityLogic's hardware and software), it came in essentially tied with the MFC-J870DW, at 4.9 pages per minute (ppm) compared with 4.7 ppm. (A 0.2 ppm difference isn't statistically significant at these speeds.) More important, this counts as fast for the price range. As another point of reference, the Editors' Choice Epson WorkForce WF-3520 managed only 4.4 ppm.
Output quality for the MFC-J650DW is pretty much par across the board. Text is a match for most inkjet MFPs, which makes it good enough for most business needs. Graphics output is at the low end of a very tight range where the vast majority of inkjet MFPs score, which makes it easily good enough for most business use. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you may or may not consider it good enough for PowerPoint handouts. Photos were dead on par for an inkjet MFP, which translates to being a match for what you would expect from drug store prints.
The Brother MFC-J650DW is basically the Brother MFC-J870DW with some cut corners. If you need any of the features it leaves out—NFC support, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct, or printing on optical discs—there's no good reason not to pay a little more and get the Brother MFC-J870DW instead. If you don't need any of those extras, however, the Brother MFC-J650DW can save you a little money. And if you need an office-oriented inkjet MFP for light-duty printing, it can be a good fit
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