Brother HL-2240 Laser Printer - Solid, Fast and Stylish

I bought this Brother Laser Printer HL2240 to replace a Samsung laser printer. In contrast to constantly-jamming Samsung laser printer I had before, this Brother works flawlessly. Not only does it feature a compact design and solid construction, its color and appearance would not be out of place in either an office, home office or, dare I say, and room of the house.

Some Specs

The printer is connected to my computer using a USB cable. It features up to 24 ppm (pages per minute) speed and has an adjustable 250-sheet paper tray. The Brother HL2240 features up to 2400x600 dpi resolution and has “Toner Save” mode for documents that do not require the best quality.

In Use
 
The printer was rather easy to install, following the directions on a large sheet included with it. The manual is on the included CD (as are the drivers), but there is a label that you attach to the printer itself that explains what the various LED combinations mean.

I turned the toner save mode on and discovered that the print quality in that mode is very good. It is even better with the TS mode off. The printer has a mechanical on/off power switch on its side and a button on the top panel to control paper feeding, etc. In addition to the 250-sheet tray, there is a feeding slot for thicker media. There might be other features, but I am too lazy to put the CD into my computer and start reading the manual.

The printer driver/settings have a lot of adjustments and have exciting modes like duplexing. Less exciting than originally thought though, since you have to manually flip the sheet and feed it again.

The print speed and the warm-up time are quite good and the printed pages do not slide off the printer, unlike the Samsung. The big question mark is the capacity of the “starter” toner cartridge that the printer came with.

Replacement Toner

A new high-yield Brother toner cartridge rated for 2,600 pages is currently $47, resulting in a cost of a little less than 2 cents per page. A regular Brother cartridge is currently $32 for 1200 pages: 2.7 cents per page.

Pros: Compact, stylish, solid and fast, good print quality, even in toner save mode, features.
Cons: Not cheap.

Conclusion
 
I am happy with the Brother Laser Printer HL2240 and expect it to last. With good speed and print quality as well as long-term cost per page, this is an excellent printer. I only wish it were cheaper, but I already tried that route (buying a cheaper Samsung printer) and don’t want to cut corners any more.