- Fast laser printing prints up to 27ppm and produce a professional-looking output
- Built-in wireless and Ethernet network interfaces for flexible connectivity
- Convenient paper handling, flatbed copying and scanning
- Automatic duplex for producing two-sided output helps reduce paper use
- Adjustable 250-sheet capacity paper tray, manual feed slot for printing envelopes and letterhead
I bought this printer to replace an inkjet that just went out. For subcontract work I do I need to print manuals ranging from 10-70 pages which this laser printer is great for, I also wanted to have a copier. I cannot comment on the scanner as I rarely use this feature on any of the multi-function units I have owned.
Pros: Decent price on factory toner compared to my other inkjet. I also liked that brother has multiple models all using the same TN-420/TN-450 toners so I don't feel like it be hard to get quality factory toner in a year or two.
Network connectivity, I was able to connect to my wireless network however due to prior issues with my linksys E2000 router, none of the computers could access the printer. I have advanced tech skills and still can not get the settings right for wireless networking Vs my old WRT54G and I don't have time to dumb the router to an access point that would resolve the issue. However, the wired connection works great, all computers on the same network instantly see the printer.
I highly recommend the network printer only/ local attached drivers if you only want to print and copy because it will remove ALOT of bloatware. I also suggest to set a manual IP or static DHCP on your router to avoid any issues with the unit changing IPs.
Cons: Like other reviews I find the fan to be somewhat loud for if you had to sit next to the printer all day and listen to it not a real deal breaker but something to consider. I put the printer on the bottom part of a TV stand where there is enough room for ventilation but the wood absorbs some sound and it is in a room that out of my way.
Like most printers these days, it feels pretty plastic and I wonder about reliability of constantly opening the scanner bed. Although, the printer was on sale which made the 2yr office max warranty $15 for a little piece of mind.
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I got my unit for $100 during a sale since it is normally $200, for the price I paid it was too good of a deal to pass up I still believe I would have considered the full price after using it. Starter Toner is 700 pages. $45 for 1200 page toner. and I think $70 for 2600 page. If you want a network printer that is easy to setup, prints extremely fast and can live without color (At least 95% of what I print is black text anyways). I highly recommend this unit.
Buy Brother Printer Wireless Monochrome Printer Now
There are two main reasons I chose this Brother printer over the competition. The first is that it was the only wireless laser printer brand I could find that had an LCD display. That was important to me because it allows the printer to be connected directly to a wireless network without having to be temporarily connected to a PC to do the configuration. WIthout a built-in display you would have to connect it via a cable to a computer to do the configuration using the computer's display. I wanted something that was entirely independent of a PC's display, and this one is. Second, Brother seems to be using the old business model that HP and Canon once used, which is to charge more for the printer and supply the toner/ink at a reasonable cost. These days HP and Canon practically give away their printers but their ink and toner is very expensive. I love Canon inkjet printers especially, but their ink cartridges keep getting smaller and higher priced. Next time I buy an inkjet I will definitely check out the Brother models. Laser printers are much cheaper to operate than inkjet of course, and if you compare the price and capacity of the Brother TN450 cartridge that this machine uses to the price and capacity of similar HP and Canon machines you will see that this one has them beat.
Connecting to my wireless network via Windows 7 was a breeze. I used the automatic one-push setup and had the printer online in a couple of minutes. It does make noise, but does not seem any noisier that other laser printers I have used, although I have not tried the duplex feature yet. B&W print and copy quality is excellent. I haven't tried scanning color yet, but I suspect it will be more than adequate for my needs. It has a nice 250 sheet paper drawer, much more convenient than some of the competing machines which have the paper supply sticking out the back like an erect tail. I like that it quickly goes into sleep mode to conserve power and quickly comes back online when I send a print job or press a button.
This machine prints, copies and scans, but if you need a fax machine then check out the Brother MFC7860DW. It has the same specs as this model but has an ADF on top and fax capability. It usually sells for $50-80 more than this model.
This machine is exactly what I was looking for. I just wanted a wireless laser printer that was easy to set-up and economical to use, and this printer meets both of those criteria.
Read Best Reviews of Brother Printer Wireless Monochrome Printer Here
This printer is a new offering from Brother and I have only had it a couple of days, but my initial opinion is that it's a pretty good printer. Set-up was easy, I have it positioned about 40' from my (very old) router on a different level of my house and connectivity so far has been flawless. I have both printed and scanned without any issues. I currently have a desktop and two laptops setup to print to this printer, again, no issues. Print quality looks as you'd expect for a laser printer and scan quality seemed good as well. On duplex printing the page does come out slightly curled, but I think that's to be expected in a printer of this size. This is my first laser printer so I have nothing to compare it to, but the noise level does not seem bad at all, I can hear it from the next room but just barely and it's totally quiet while "sleeping". Print speed is very quick, I thinks it's rated for less than 10 seconds for the first print and that seems about right, it's very quick. As I stated earlier, I have not had this printer long, but so far so good. I got this for significantly under MSRP, don't buy it for list price. I'll try to provide an update after it's been in use for a while.
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I have never owned a Brother Printer before. I have always used either HP, Canon, or Epson. To my thinking, printers like those made by Brother and Lexmark have seemed to be less reliable in times past. The past 5 months have proved me wrong. This Brother is an astounding printer at a terrific price.
All features work flawlessly and print quality is outstanding for this price range. Brother have upped their game over the last 4 or 5 years and I was tempted enough (after my HP and Canon both gave up the ghost) to look elsewhere. This Brother Printer (and I still have a Canon Pixma Inkjet for occasional color needs) is just a work horse. Flawless printing in regular and duplex mode. Originally, I just hooked a USB cable to it... but then set it up (pretty easy) to Wireless via it's built in interface. Works great.
Noise: I have seen a few comments about the noise level of this printer. I find it extremely quiet. FIrst of all, it is most usually "sleeping" in what appears to be OFF position...in this mode, the printer is totally quiet. No noise at all. If I send it a print job to it wirelessly, it wakes up pretty quick.. wait... let me time: It woke up and printed a single page in 20 seconds. So, keeping the printer in standby mode is not a problem (unless 20 seconds is too long for you to wait.
The printer returns to a quiet state after another 10 seconds (after printing) and then stays in this "alert" state for about 10 minutes. It is during this time that the printer will make some noise. Quite frankly, I don't usually notice it, it is so quiet. Then the printer returns to SLEEP mode and goes totally silent. So, there really is not a noise issue at all. In fact, my HP printer was much more noisy. The fact that it is most usually in Sleep mode, means that it is almost always completely silent. (If I had read all the reviews that said this printer was too noisy, I likely would not have purchased it. And I would have lost out on a great, quiet printer).
Cost per page: I am averaging just under a penny a page to print with this... that is so much cheaper than my ink jet! I am using the "toner save" mode, however. In fact, the thought of buying another ink jet with their incredible high cost of ink was one of the reasons I bought this Brother printer.
I love that the printer takes an entire ream of paper. I just load it and forget about paper for a long time! And Duplex mode (front and back of page printing, without needing to flip the paper!) has been a great feature that I didn't have before. That too is another savings feature. The copier works fine. I haven't tried scanning with this printer yet. And the cost per page on this printer... well, that is why I purchased it... this is a money saving baby!
Cons? Yes. One. The message about LOW INK comes on too soon. Being cheap, I usually ignore these prompts until the thing truly runs out of ink. With this printer, I can print several weeks before it really runs out of ink. FYI.
Great printer!
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UPDATE 1-15-2012: Still love this printer! I wanted to update this about the one "con" I listed... Ink. More specifically, the message that you get to change the ink ("toner low message"). My advice is to ignore it. I printed for over two months before it truly ran out of ink. Even then, I never got a single bad printed copy. No "light print jobs," no "missing lines of text." When this printer really runs out of ink (OK, toner), it will simply refuse to print. Then it is time to replace the cartridge. I replaced mine with a Brother branded High Capacity toner cartridge...at least this first time. I would love to hear comments from others who may have used cheaper 3rd party cartridges... do they work well? Or should I stick with a Brother branded cartridge? Enjoy this printer!
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Update 9-1-2012: Still going strong...just replaced first full toner cartridge. I just ignore the low toner printer warnings (however, you can turn off... I turn off the STOPPING because of low toner, to do this, Go to General Settings, and then number 4. Replace Toner, set to Continue.). Wait until you see the ink not filling the page or getting streaky. Then replace. You will go months past the first low toner warning (depending on volume of printing obviously).
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This is my second Brother printer and I absolutely love both of them. The duplex printing option is especially welcome after having to muck around with manual feeding to do duplex for so long (the other one is an HL-2070N).
But be careful when installing the software, as the default "Install MFL-Pro Suite" option adds a third party program called PaperPort, which started popping up ads for other Nuance software from my system tray. This is completely unacceptable for the installation of a hardware driver, especially hardware that bills itself as a professional office product.
From what I gather, PaperPort is for scanning and organizing documents like receipts and such. So if you need that functionality you might tolerate the ads. But in an office environment it's most likely not worth it.
