One drawback to this machine is that it doesn’t come standard with a LCD display. It does, however, have a CPU speed of 200 MHz and a printer toner save mode. Many media types are supported like bond paper, plain paper, transparencies and labels. Sizes like legal, letter, executive, A4, A5 and A6 are all supported. For those who need it, envelope printing is also supported. The input trays can hold up to 250 sheets of these papers, and the output tray can hold around 100 sheets. It is Energy Star compliant, meaning it is more environmentally friendly than the majority of units on the market.

Weighing only 14.8 pounds, this unit will be great for those who need portability and mobility from their printer. It also has a very compact size of only 14.5×14.2×7.2 inches, making it simple to find a place for or store away too. Upon purchase, you receive one toner cartridge and one drum unit that will last 700 pages and 12,000 pages, respectively.

At 17 pages per minute, it will certainly be an easy task to find a similar model with better speeds, but when it comes to finding one with higher quality, the task won’t be so easy. Resolutions as high as 600×2400 dpi are available for color or monochrome printing, and first page out times are quick at 15 seconds and 16 seconds for black-and-white and color printing, respectively.

The Brother HL-3070CW can handle envelopes, labels, bond paper, recycled paper and plain paper, and many sizes (up to 8.5×14 inches) are supported as well.  The HL-3070 has a total media capacity of 250 sheets, and the automatic document feeder can feed all 250. The output tray holds 100 sheets.

In order to print, you are going to need four Brother HL-3070CW toner cartridges. One is black, and the other three are cyan, magenta and yellow. All of these print with excellent quality, and they will yield about 1,400 pages before expiring and needing replaced.

Upon purchase, 64 MB of memory comes standard. That memory can be upgraded, though, for a small price to 128 MB, 256 MB or 512 MB, depending on the customer’s needs. Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems are all compatible and supported by the Brother HL-3070.

With ethernet and USB connection, it makes getting started easy. It also is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac, meaning no one is left out in the cold. The Brother HL-3040 comes standard with 32 MB of memory, but that can be upgraded at anytime to 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB or 512 MB. The machine is network ready and also has an LCD display. It weighs 41.9 pounds, which shouldn’t be too heavy for most, and its dimension of 16.1×18.3×9.8 inches is very compact making it easy to place or store around the office or home.

Its speeds are impressive using black, cyan, magenta or yellow Brother HL-3040CN toner. Using black or color, up to 17 pages can be produced each minute, which isn’t the fastest speed on the market, but isn’t lagging behind everyone else. Its first page out time for black and color printer toner are 15 seconds and 16 seconds, respectively. Resolutions as high as 600×2400 dpi are even possible, meaning your documents will look sharp and professional, never grainy or dull.

Many media types are supported by this machine, and plain paper, bond paper, labels, recycled paper and envelopes all print perfectly with the Brother HL-3040, and many sizes of each work well too.  Letter, legal, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, executive and envelope size all work just fine, and even a few custom sizes are supported. All around the Brother HL-3040 is versatile and hard working.

Say “good-bye” to messes and ink spillage, this printer doesn’t need ink or toner!  How does little machine work, then, you might wonder?  Well, it’s simple really.  The PocketJet 3 uses direct thermal technology.  Basically, instead of buying ink, you buy special thermal paper.  This thermal paper has a solid-state ink inside of the paper.  When the matrix inside the printer is heated, the dye reacts with heat and shifts into the pattern you wish to have printed.  The ink inside the paper is coming through the paper and creating the text.  This is a different kind of printing than most are used to, but it is much more portable than laser or inkjet printers.

What the PocketJet 3 has to offer in relation to features is pretty impressive. The Brother 3 has the ability to create resolutions of up to 203 dpi, which isn’t very high, but for a 1 pound printer, it is pretty impressive. USB, Bluetooth and IrDA interfaces are all located on this petite device, and it is compatible with a surprisingly large amount of operating systems.  Blackberry, Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Windows, Mac and Linux all work in conjunction with the PocketJet.  An internal battery generally powers this unit, but users who opt to use AC or DC power from a cigarette lighter can do that too.  

There are downsides, though. The PocketJet 3 has a very expensive upfront price, and the paper itself costs a pretty penny too.  For those who want a quality, mobile printer, however, this is a perfect way to spend your money.

The machine measures a very compact 5.3 inches by 14.7 inches by 15.7 inches, and weighs only 12.1 pounds.  For a multifunction with the ability to print, scan, copy and fax, this is almost unthinkable.  Print speeds are very fast at up to 20 pages per minute for black and 15 pages per minute for color, and paper capacity is decent at 100 sheets.

The compact size of the machine and its low price do come with a few tradeoffs, however, but they are not major issues.  First, faxing is limited to 14.4 kbps, unlike many models which offer 33.6 kbps transfer speeds.  This will probably not make a difference for the user who does occasional faxing, but for sending faxes frequently, the loss in speed may become tiresome.  The other major tradeoff is the lack of an automatic document feeder for copying, scanning and faxing.  This means users will have to scan pages one at a time.  Again, for light use, this is not a problem, but users who routinely scan multiple pages at a time may become frustrated.

Brother MFC-210C ink tends to be more expensive than competing models, which could add up over time.  Thankfully, Brother MFC-210C ink cartridges have larger capacities than expected given the unit’s compact size.  This means replacing ink less often and helps keep the cost per page lower. 

The Brother MFC-210C may not be the best multifunction unit on the market, but for buyers who need an extremely compact model with many functions, it could be the perfect choice at a very low price.

The number of features available is impressive.  The machine can print, scan, copy, fax and also has a PC fax feature.  It also has both built-in wired and wireless networking support, for sharing across a network of computers.  It can hold up to 400 sheets of paper total, and can handle paper sizes up to 11×17 inches, known as tabloid size.  The unit includes a PictBridge port and memory card slots for printing photos directly and a full-color screen for previewing photos before printing.

The low price of Brother MFC-6490CW ink cartridges is also a great feature, as printer ink costs can really add up.  Further, Brother MFC-6490CW ink cartridges have large capacities for their class, giving a low cost per page.  The low cost of the unit and the low cost of Brother MFC-6490CW ink combine to make it a great value that is easy on the budget.

In the review of the Brother MFC-6490CW, PC Magazine liked its tabloid-size paper handling capabilities, especially for its low price.  They also liked its print quality, especially for text.  They mentioned that buyers who don’t need large format printing can save a little money with competing models.

Overall, the Brother MFC-6490CW has virtually every feature under the sun for a very low price, and its printer ink costs are economical as well.  All of this adds up to one of the most impressive machines in its class.

As it is designed to be a personal printer, the base model does not include an ethernet port, nor does Brother sell an optional ethernet add-on for the printer. If you want ethernet, you must purchase the HL-5370DW or HL-5370DWT models, which have ethernet and wifi both built in. While it is understandable not to include ethernet in a personal printer, in today’s world where laptops and routers are extremely common even in the home office, this is a consideration for buyers, and many manufacturers are including ethernet even in their base configurations, realizing that most users want to connect a printer to a wifi router for portability around the home or office.

The print speed is quite impressive, especially for the price. At 32 pages per minute, it is one of the fastest personal laser printers available. Print quality is very good. Text quality is excellent, but doesn’t fare as well on very small fonts as other laser printers. Graphics quality is surprisingly good, and exceeds expectations for a laser printer.

The printer includes a 250-sheet paper tray, which is quite roomy for a personal printer, with a 50-sheet multipurpose tray as well. You can also purchase two additional trays of 250 sheets each if you need more capacity. It is worth noting that the printer supports duplexing (two-sided printing) even in the base model. This is an uncommon, but welcome, feature in a personal laser printer.

Overall, its speed and print quality combined with its compact size make the HL-5340D a great choice for a personal laser printer. Bonus features like duplexing and a large input capacity simply sweeten the deal.

The LCD panel flips up for easier viewing, and displays all the necessary information in its menus. Users can also log into the printer software over the network to check ink levels, change settings, and view the status of the printer and any pending jobs. This is especially useful in environments where some users may not be located close to the printer.

Brother HL-4040 toner cartridges have a capacity of 2,500 prints for black and 1,500 for each of the 3 color cartridges. High-capacity cartridges are available, at 5,000 pages for black and 4,000 for each color cartridge. Though the high-capacity cartridges are more expensive upfront, they will save money in the long run by reducing the cost per page.

Print quality is excellent, with only very minor artifacts showing up in color prints. Black prints, especially text, are sharp and dark, with virtually no artifacts. Print speed is only average for a color laser printer, at about 15 pages per minute in black, and 13 pages per minute in color, which is a tradeoff worth considering. While other printers may offer more speed, they may lack in print quality by comparison. Printers that have both the speed and the quality are likely to be much more expensive. The Brother HL-4040CN strikes a good balance of print quality, speed, and price that will satisfy most buyers.

Designed for small businesses and work groups, the Brother HL-2700 delivers fast print speeds and expandable options; the printer is priced around $300.00.

Utilizing a Toshiba TMPR4995 300 MHz processor and installed memory of 64 MB, maximum of 576 MB (much more than most of its competition), the Brother HL-2700 has the specifications for fast monochrome text printing and ample room for imaging. Common for most printers in its class, the device comes standard with USB, parallel and 10/100BaseTX connections and supports HTTP, SNMP, and Telnet remote management protocols. In addition the HL-2700 is compatible with Apple Mac OS and Windows platforms, which is a bit light compared to its competitors. What the printers lack in platform compatibilities it makes up for with its 780 sheet maximum input capacity and language simulations like HP GL, PCL 6, PostScript 3, and EPSON FX. This printer also supports CompactFlash memory for printing large document s repeatedly; an optional auto duplexer is also available.

Generally speaking the Brother HL-2700 print quality is excellent and delivers some of the fastest color printing speeds at 7 pages per minute, but the color production needs some improvement. Monochrome text is very quick at 28 pages per minute with uncommon clarity, better than similarly priced Lexmark models. Enhancing the image quality comes in the form of Brother’s Color Advanced Photoscale Technology and will compensate for imperfections in the paper and calibrate color to produce consistent results; resolution can be as high as 2400 by 2400 dpi. The BrAdmin program allows for all printing functions to be monitored via a desktop and is common among this class of printers as well as its 30,000 page monthly duty cycle. The cost for printing in color is estimated at $.13 per page and for monochrome documents close to $.03 per page, but these results will vary based upon usage.

The Brother HL-2700 color laser printer legs out its competition in print quality and speeds and is priced well for these features; it should be noted that the expandable options are priced much higher, on average, than their competitors.

Gently pull the drum out of the Brother laser printer being careful to not spill the toner. It is recommended that you have an old newspaper or some paper towels around the printer to catch any loose toner that may fallout. Place the imaging assembly on some paper towels as well for the very same reason. At this time take a small lint free cloth and wipe the interior of the access panel and the parts inside. This helps to maintain a clean working environment inside the device as the small toner particles can act as an abrasive and deteriorate the components over time.

Pay close attention to the electrodes on either side of the printer; take special care not to touch these as a static shock could damage them entirely. You may elect to discharge any static electricity by touching a metal surface prior to removing the imaging drum and after. Along the side of the imaging unit you will find clasps that hold in the toner cartridges. Release these and place the cartridge on some paper towels. Take the imaging drum and enclose it in a bag to prevent spillage and dispose of it accordingly. Now take the new imaging unit out of its packaging and insert the toner cartridge. Reverse these steps and you have finished.