Showing posts with label network printer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label network printer. Show all posts

Brother MFC-665CW Photo Color All-in-One Printer with Wireless Networking Review

Brother MFC-665CW Photo Color All-in-One Printer with Wireless Networking
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Having gotten a new desktop replacement computer which lacked the parallel cable port for my old Xerox 490cx multifunction, I got this model because of its functions, wireless capability, and cost (one-fifty at office depot). It's also the first flatbed device I have gotten. Its relatively small footprint was also a selling point. My use is light home office and personal use - short work-related text documents, recipes for wife, color pictures the kids make, simple copying tasks, and for sending and receiving short faxes.
Set-up - a little bit involved as far as setting it up for wireless on my somewhat old netgear router. Still it found my network, and entering the security key was fairly straightforward. It would be nice if its mac address was more obvious. It might be hard for a total novice to hook this up to wireless unless s/he were running an open and unsecure network. While the box touts its wireless capability, the instructions time and time again recommend using usb or Cat5 connection for best results. Rather disturbing they would choose to discourage you from actually using a feature they tout so prominently on its packaging. I had to turn off the computer's firewall for it to find the printer on the network the first time. You have to use the install disk on every computer you want to enable to access this printer. But I got it working, and all connected computers can find it and print to it. Nice to cut down on a single wire (usb or LAN), but you still have a power cord and a phone-in and phone-out cord so you still have a heavily wired set-up.
Features - the LCD screen is a nice touch and it folds up so you can see it from different angles. It has card reader slots so you can print directly from flash memory cards. The print quality is just so-so. I easily could see the grain on text; on graphics the colors bleed a little. Even using photo paper the results are not satisfactory for printing photos. It has individual ink cartridges which is a plus, and they are very elegantly and easily accessed from the front of the machine. Can't comment on ink cartridge duration yet. I like to refill my own cartridges especially black, but don't know yet if these are amenable to after-market ink refilling. Print speed is a little slow for color, and adequate for text. You can load up to 100 sheets in the cartridge easily accessed at the front of the machine. As a scanner, the resolution certainly should be adequate for most home user tasks, but i found the colors of scanned photos lack vibrancy. This could perhaps be touched up using photo-editing software. After getting a question, i checked it out and you can indeed scan to PDF format - just set up a custom scan program.
Other - It has a built in phone handset and answering machine which are a nice touch if you also want to get rid of a separate phone/answering machine. In retrospect the phone is almost useless to me. You can set the machine to answer faxes only, or phone calls also. The PC fax is a great feature, and you can create a cover page in a snap - all you do is "Print" and select PC-fax from the drop-down menu. Unfortunately you can't preview your scanned fax before sending. I have not received a fax yet, but you are able to save these faxes directly as computer documents - not sure which format yet but another great saver of paper and time. I haven't tried the document feeder yet but if it works for a few pages without a jam, i'll be delighted.
I've not owned a brother brand printer before; I hope it lasts as long as previously owned canon and Xerox devices I've had. For its price, I'm satisfied but not blown away.
UPDATE:
It's Broken
I bought all this Brother ink and now it doesn't work.
Upon starting the machine there is a grating sound as if plastic gears are turning against resistance and then the "Paper Jam" message appears. But there is no paper stuck inside. Rebooting (which you can only do by unplugging) doesn't help. A plastic gear has broken off in the cartridge housing. It is out of warranty. This is after 7 months of very light household use, so you might want to refrain from buying this. And this after I bought alot of Brother LC51 ink.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC-665CW Photo Color All-in-One Printer with Wireless Networking

The Brother MFC-665cw is a powerful color multi-function center with wireless (80.211b/g) networking capabilities, making it a great addition to your home or small business office.
Color Printer The MFC-665cw features a flip-up, 2.5-inch color LCD so you can control all of its functions at a glance. Enjoy up to 27 ppm black and 22 ppm color print speed, as well as photo quality printing up to 6000 x 1200 dpi. With a droplet size as small as 1.5 picoliters you can be assured of fine details and color accuracy. The unit's front loading paper tray holds up to 100 sheets, while a photo by-pass tray holds up to 20 sheets of 4x6 glossy paper. Borderless photo printing is possible, and USB, ethernet, and wireless 80.211b/g interfaces are included. The printer works with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Color Copier With a versatile flatbed design, the MFC-665cw offers easy copying. No PC is required for copying, and you'll enjoy up to 20 cpm black and 18 cpm color copy speeds. The copier also offers up to 1200 x 600 dpi resolution, as well as multi-copying for up to 99 copies. Reduce or enlarge your copies from 25 percent to 400 percent, in 1 percent increments.
Color Scanner Use the MFC-665cw for flatbed color scanning at up to 19,200 dpi (interpolated) resolution, and up to 600 x 2400 dpi (optical) resolution. The unit includes award-winning ScanSoft PaperPort SE with OCR Software for Windows and Presto! PageManager for Mac.
Photo Capture Center Use the color LCD display to preview, print images or even an index--all without a computer. The MFC-665cw features convenient digital camera media card slots for high quality photo printing (Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture Card Type M/Type H, CompactFlash, Secure Digital, and MultiMediaCard). The memory card system also works as a removable disk drive, and there's also a PictBridge interface to print photos directly from your PictBridge-enabled camera.
Color Fax When it comes time to send a fax, you can choose black and white or color faxing using the ITU-T30E standard. A 10-page auto document feeder makes big faxing jobs a snap, while the 14.4 Kbps high-speed fax modem delivers your documents quickly. The fax machine supports caller ID and distinctive ring modes. No PC is required for faxing. You can also take advantage of 80-station auto dialing, and 32 MB of total memory means you can store up to 480 pages.
PC Fax The MFC-665cw comes with the Brother PC Fax Driver for sending and receiving faxes from your computer. The software supports fax broadcasting from your PC, as well as network PC fax send and receive. PC fax functionality works with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Message Center The MFC-665cw's built-in digital answering machine records up to 99 messages or up to 29 total minutes. The unit features a built-in telephone handset, as well as a full-duplex speakerphone for hands-free operation. Volume controls for both the handset and speakerphone are provided.

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Brother HL-2070N Network Monochrome Laser Printer (Black) Review

Brother HL-2070N Network Monochrome Laser Printer (Black)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This printer doesn't have the 'built-like-a-tank" feel or weight of my old Laserwriter IIg, but it's far quicker and less troublesome. If you want to do black-and-white printing on a budget, I highly recommend it. I use it to print book drafts and even the 8-point type in footnotes is sharp and clear. The driver installed quickly and worked without a hitch on my Mac mini and MacBook.
Installed to run over an Ethernet network, this printer has a rudimentary web page server that allows you to use your web browser to configure some of its features remotely, including the print resolution and a toner save mode. You can also see how many pages you've used on the toner and drum, so you have an idea when each needs replacing. The web page configuration information is buried in the Network User's Guide, so I'll post it here. (Voting this review helpful will keep in near the top and help others to see this posting.)
The web address is: http://brn-8c4310.local/printer/main.html
That'll give you the printer's home page. To change the configuration, you'll need this information:
The default account is: admin
And the default password is: access
Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother HL-2070N Network Monochrome Laser Printer (Black)

Prints up to 20ppm. HQ1200 resolution (up to 2400x600dpi). Includes Built-in Ethernet Network Interface. PCL6 for DOS printing. 250-sheet input capacity. 16MB memory standard. USB 2.0 and Parallel Interfaces. Toner Save Mode Feature. Optional External Wireless network interface. One year express exchange limited warranty.

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Xerox Phaser 6125/N Color Laser Printer Review

Xerox Phaser 6125/N Color Laser Printer
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I am awarding this printer 5 stars for its ease of installation, quality of output, quality of workmanship, unit price and the average cost of a printed page.
The Xerox Phaser 6125N appears to be a solid, quality unit. Given that you will print about 500 pages before you need to buy your next toner, you get a lot of value for the price. Thereafter, based on the prices currently listed at Amazon, paying $70 for 2000 black and white pages is not bad at all. In fact, on a per-page basis, you are paying significantly less vs. what you would spend on a generic ink-jet printer.
I installed the printer at home, in the basement, plugged into a wireless Linksys router via an Ethernet wire. My printer is now taking jobs from 5 different computers, connected through the same router over Wi-Fi and running Windows XP and Vista.
The unit comes in a nice, neat box where very little space is wasted. The unit is very much assembled and ready to go. There is a `Quick Installation', poster-sized guide (also a 'flash' animation on the CD) that explains in detail how to remove the various sticky tapes that held the printer together during transportation and lock in the toner cartridges. Once that's done, you plug in the power, connect the printer via either USB or Ethernet (USB and Ethernet cables NOT included), turn it on, set up your favorite language if it's not English and you are ready to go. On the computer side, you need to install the Xerox printer driver.
The driver installation(*) was relatively quick and nearly flawless. For it to proceed, the setup program must first find the printer. Since the printer was not physically connected to the laptop, it immediately started to look for IP-based printers. You must make sure that the printer is turned on and it has an IP address(**) while this is happening. The status page, which you can print from the front panel, will tell you if that is the case. My DHCP-enabled Linksys router assigned an address to the printer so no complicated setup was required. On the Vista side, I had to give Vista permission for a couple of tasks to complete. The setup gives you the opportunity to register your printer online. I agreed and it was quick and easy even though I was surprised that the setup knew my printer's serial number but not the model which I have to pick it myself from a long drop-down list.
From the moment I opened the box to the time I printed my first page off a document, it took less than one hour. I can see how some users may require help with the network installation part. I cannot say how Xerox supports end-users with more complex network setups because I did not have to call the tech support.The Phaser 6125N is a large, solid box (see Amazon's picture) and it is so because it holds large (fully loaded) toner cartridges and the fuser unit. Printing is quick and quiet and I experienced no paper jams yet. The colors are bright and both the text and the graphics are crisp - I printed some very complicated flowcharts and a colorful logo to test and I was satisfied with the result. Out of the box, over 200 PCL and PostScript fonts are supported. Other features include 128Mb of memory, support for various paper sizes and paper types including glossies and envelopes, it can be set to go into PowerSaver mode after a period of inactivity (and I reduced it from the 30 minute default to 5 minutes), can be set to produce an audible tone on various conditions, will produce Configuration pages with values for various settings and parameters including the environment's temperature and humidity.
This printer should be ideal for the small office and it could be great for the home if the relatively large size does not bother you. In my case, it doesn't because it's going to stay in the basement. Memory expansion or wireless connections were not issues for me but those who have such concerns should do some research before buying.
________________________________________________________________________
(*) Be aware that a nearly identical model, the Xerox Phaser 6130/N Color Laser Printer offers a few enhancements and extra capabilitis such as:
- Double standard memory (128 MB vs. 64MB) and the ability to upgrade it up to 1152MB
- Larger toner cartridges
- Mac OS support
- Built-in PCL emulation and PostScript 3
(**) Note that you will have to install the driver on ALL the computers that are going to use the printer. Every time you install the driver, you will be prompted to register again. After you complete your first registration, ignore any subsequent invitations.
(***) I can think of 3 basic way you can connect the printer without having to buy any extra hardware, other than a cable, if you don't have one already:
1 - Personal printer - use a USB cable to connect it directly to your desktop computer (or your laptop's docking station)
2 - Shared printer - after connecting the printer as above and you install the printer driver, share it (the specific steps depend on your operating system but it's usually easy). This way, anyone on the same network can use it for as long as the computer that's sharing it is up.
3 - Network printer - you plug it into a network port or directly into a router using an Ethernet cable. Unless you place some restrictions, everyone on the network should be able to use the printer for as long as it is on and the network is up.
(****) The 6125 Toner capacity are: 2000 pages for 'black' and 1000 pages for the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. If found a 'third party' that offers the set of 4 cartridges for about 55: Xerox Phaser 6125 Set of 4 Compatible Laser Toner Cartridges: 1 each of Black 106R01334 , Cyan 106R01331, Magenta 106R01332, Yellow 106R01333 by LD Products.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Xerox Phaser 6125/N Color Laser Printer

Xerox makes color the easy choice with the refreshingly office-friendly, value-packed Phaser 6125 color laser printer. This's compact printing solution powerful enough to handle all of your office printing demands with ease.

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Samsung Color Multifunction Laser Printer (CLX-3175FW) Review

Samsung Color Multifunction Laser Printer (CLX-3175FW)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I am a nice guy. I have patience. Customer service is inherently frustrating, I'm okay with that. Things take time. Things break. I'm okay with that too. But this is OFF THE !@#$% SCALES OF BEING OKAY.
1. My printer broke. Wouldn't scan or copy, just print.
2. I call customer service. I describe the problem. They said they'd send a replacement part and a guy would come fix it. Weird, for a $300 printer, but whatever.
3. The printer guy comes. Says they sent the wrong part. Reorders the part.
4. Two weeks go by. I call Samsung. The part is on INDEFINITE BACKORDER. I was not told. I talk to "Executive Customer Service", they say that they can just send another part that works just as well. WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST SEND THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
5. The printer guy comes back. Installs the part, it doesn't work. He says that he charges $400/hour. That means Samsung has already paid for two replacement parts + shipping and about $1200 in repairs to NOT fix my broken $300 printer. Genius. He marks it "unrepairable". I call Samsung, they say they're going to call me when his report goes through their system.
6. A week later. They never called me, so I call Samsung. They say they'll finally send me a new printer. GREAT!! FINALLY!!!
7. ...wait. They're not sending me a new printer. They're sending me a new unit, but I have to keep the toner, the accessories, and I have to pull out the "imaging unit" and put it in a box because if I expose it to light, the whole thing is destroyed and my printer is worthless. No matter that I don't know what the part looks like, I should be able to pull it out in the dark and put it in the conveniently sized light-proof box I don't have. Great. I ask for an email instruction or checklist so I can make sure to take out all the right parts. The Samsung tech support guy says "we don't have email." Really? Great move. A tech support department without email. Perfect.
8. Nope...not over yet. They aren't sending ME the printer. It's getting sent to my local UPS store. I now have to hope I pull out all the right parts to my broken printer in the dark, put them in a box so the "imaging unit" doesn't break, go to the UPS store, pick up the new one, and hope that I can put it all back together at my house and that I haven't left a part in the old printer because I'm supposed to take out the parts that were on a list that they wouldn't give me.
9. I call the UPS store that Samsung tells me about. They have no idea what I'm talking about and have never had a Samsung printer sent to them, ever.
[...] YOU SAMSUNG!!!!
Your crappy Epson printer breaks, they send you a new one for free, you don't even have to send the old one back. THAT'S customer service. I will never buy another Samsung product, just to not have to deal with this moronic process again.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Samsung Color Multifunction Laser Printer (CLX-3175FW)

Good things do come in small packages. With the 3175FW you\'ll enjoy all of the benefits of an all-in-one printer in a smaller and elegantly designed package. And it\'s made even more attractive because of its wireless feature. The 3175FW has high quality color that will impress you—the17 ppm black/4 ppm color print speed, and 2400 x 600 dpi output, ensure professional results, quickly.

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HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer Review

HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I recently upgraded to the HP6310 from the HP7110 a machine I was more than happy with. The move has been excellent, all functions are faster particularly color printing, the unit is significantly more compact and the quality of images are also a serious upgrade. The unit has almost no shake and is extremely quiet in operation, particularly in comparison with my old 7110. In addition the price differential between this machine and the much inferior HP5610 is very small.
New features include the ability to take several formats of camera memory cards and read directly from them to print contact sheets, six ink color with inkjet photo ink and up to 24 x 8.5 prints. There are also wired and wireless network options etc but I have not used them.
Installation was a breeze, I was up and running in maybe 10 minutes, the controls are intuitive but if needed the instruction book is unusually easy to follow.
Why not five stars: it drinks ink and the cartridges are small -that gets expensive.
If you can live with the ink issue this is a great machine for the home office or small business.


Click Here to see more reviews about: HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer

The HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One is primed for meeting all your home document and photo printing needs. It can print and copy at up to 30 pages per minute (ppm) in black and 24 ppm in color1. It has built-in Ethernet networking connectivity that lets you print, fax, scan, and copy from multiple computers--perfect for your home or small office. Other special features include printing photos direct from a memory card2, PictBridge enabled camera, or mobile camera phone, a 35-page automatic document feeder,and a junk fax barrier3.
Simple office networking You can easily share your HP OfficeJet 6310 all-in-one with multiple computers using its built-in Networking connectivity. Plug your all-in-one into the Ethernet port of a wireless router for wireless printing4 and more--with just a few mouse clicks you'll be sharing the HP OfficeJet 6310’s amazing functions across your small office in no time.
Breakthrough performance you can rely on With breakthrough print, scan, fax, and copy speeds and performance, the HP OfficeJet 6310 makes an efficient tool for your small business or home office. Print and copy document speeds reach up to 30 ppm black and 24 ppm color. It has color fax capabilities and a junk fax barrier that can eliminate future unwanted junk faxes. The 35-sheet auto document feeder lets you quickly and conveniently copy, scan, and fax multi-page documents.
Exceptional essentials
Cover all your office needs: print, fax, scan, and copy
Print and copy in laser-quality text and get true-to-life photos in six-ink color with HP's Vivera Inks5
Print and copy super fast, at up to 30 pages per minute in black and 24 in color
Transfer and print fast with the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connection
Get outstanding scans with the 2400 x 4800 dpi optical resolution
Make crisp color copies without turning on your computer
Connect several computers via the built-in wired networking;
Print wirelessly by plugging into the Ethernet port of a wireless router
Innovative extras
Optimize print and copy quality for different paper types with the automatic paper sensor
Keep junk faxes away with the junk fax barrier
Automatically remove red eye from photos and enhance detail in dark areas with HP's Real Life technologies
Print photo panoramas-with or without borders-at up to 8.5 x 24"6
Copy, scan and fax multipage documents using the 35-sheet automatic document feeder
Print photos without a PC when using memory cards7, a camera phone7 or a PictBridge-enabled camera; copy photos from memory cards to your USB flash drive
Resist photo fading for generations8 and maintain the quality of laser-quality text for decades9
Send and receive photos without large e-mail attachments with HP Photosmart Sharing10
Annotate documents with HP Document Viewer
Easy, efficient supplies
Save ink and money with HP inkjet cartridges
Stay on top of ink replacement with HP SureSupply11: receive alerts when a cartridge is low, monitor its remaining life, and enjoy easy online ordering or check stock and prices at nearby stores

What's in the box HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One, HP 98 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (11 ml), HP 95 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge (7 ml), HP Photosmart Essential and Premiere Software, setup guide, reference guide, power supply, power cord, and phone cord
1. Print speed may vary on the type of output 2. Memory card slots support Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I and II, Memory Memory Stick, xD-Picture Card, Memory Stick Duo (with adapter, not included. Purchase separately), separately), Mini SD (with adapter, not included. Purchase separately). 3. Requires caller ID service, not included. Price and service contract must be negotiated separately. 4. Wireless printing requires HP bt450 Bluetooth Wireless Printer Adapter (not included, purchased separately). 5. Six-ink color requires HP 99 Photo Inkjet Print Cartridge, sold separately. 6. Borderless printing up to 8.5 x 24" using brochure and photo paper. 7. For Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard, CompactFlash Type I and II, Memory Stick, xD-Picture Card, plus Memory Stick Duo and Mini SD (both with adapter, not included). 8. Based on Wilhelm-Research.com light-fade testing under glass (as of 1/05) using HP 93 Tri-color and optional HP 99 Photo Inkjet Print Cartridges on HP Premium Plus photo papers. 9. Based on paper industry predictions for acid-free papers; colorant stability data at room temperature based on similar systems tested as per ISO 11798 and ISO 18909. 10. Internet connection required. 11. Available only with original HP supplies; Internet access required.

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Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces Review

Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I bought the HL-2170W from Amazon at the beginning of 2008. I found it very easy to configure for both wired and wireless networks, although I use mine on a wired connection out of convenience. I print mostly plain text, and the quality is very good.
I have but two complaints:
First, the paper comes out slightly curled, but this is a fact of life for a printer this size.
Second, Brother has programmed the printer such that when its thinks the toner is empty, it stops working. This happened to me when I was printing some important documents. I did some internet searches and examined the toner cartridge. There is a clear plastic circle at each end of the toner cartridge. The printer shines a light through to see how full the toner is. Simply cover one of them with a piece of opaque tape, and the printer will think that the toner is full. I've already gotten 1500+ pages out of the starter toner that was "empty" at 983, with no difference in printed quality.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces

Ideal for both home and office use, the affordable Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer features network connectivity via wireless/wired interfaces, and prints up to 23 pages per minute at a high-quality resolution, giving your work and personal documents a polished finish colleagues and friends are sure to envy.
Versatile and Professional This monochrome laser printer not only warms up in less than 10 seconds and prints up to 23 pages per minute to give you near-instant access to important reports, documents, and annual family letters when you need them, it also includes a manual bypass feeder for professional printing on envelopes and letterhead. The high-quality resolution (up to 2400 x 600 dpi) of this personal black-and-white laser printer reflects the time and care that you put into each document, while giving you the benefits of low cost per page laser output. The printer also includes 32 MB memory, and a 250-sheet capacity tray that can conveniently accommodate standard, legal, and custom-sized paper.
Built-In Wired and Wireless Networking Perfect for family or home offices, the HL-2170W gives you the option to connect the printer via USB, Ethernet, or 802.11b/g wireless networking. Brother makes wireless setup a snap; for users with wireless access points that support SecureEasySetup, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, or AOSS, you can automatically configure your wireless settings by simply pressing a button on your router.
Ergonomic and Energy Efficient The Brother HL-2140 17.9-by-18.7-by-14.2-inch efficient design features a toner save mode for extended toner life as well as sleep mode. Easy to set up and a breeze to use, this printer is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems, and includes an animated user-friendly tutorial to help answer common support and maintenance questions.
Environmentally Friendly Design For added peace of mind, this machine is Energy Star compliant, which means it helps save the environment while saving you money. (Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy promoting energy efficiency).
This personal laser printer is backed by a one-year limited manufacturer's warranty.
What's in the Box HL-2170W laser printer, starter toner cartridge and instruction kit.

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Linksys by Cisco Refurbished Wireless-G Print Server Review

Linksys by Cisco Refurbished Wireless-G Print Server
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I ordered two of these print servers, one for home, one for the office. They both work fine. The set-up is nearly idiot-proof. The included CD gives step by step instructions on setting the server up.
My only complaint is that the server insists on being the default printer and it will not allow another printer to be default without manually changing settings. On reboot the print server returns back to being default.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Linksys by Cisco Refurbished Wireless-G Print Server

IMO LINKSYS WPSM54G REFURB

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Brother Printer HL2270DW Wireless Monochrome Printer Review

Brother Printer HL2270DW Wireless Monochrome Printer
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
The Brother HL-2270DW is the follow-up to the immensely popular HL-2170W. The 2170W was popular for it's amazing value and print quality. It was also wildly popular because of a neat toner trick to get it to print more pages out of the toner, even when the printer claimed the toner needed replacing. The one big knock of the 2170W was the difficult wireless setup and for being only able to use one network connection at a time-- either Ethernet or WiFi. The 2270DW adds an automatic duplexer and also improves performance.
PROS:
- Fast, fast, fast
- Great print quality
- 3 connectivity options including WiFi
- Automatic duplexer
- Supports Windows XP/2000/Vista/7, Mac OS X, and various Linux distros
- Good looking
- Great value
CONS:
- Starter toner rated at only 700 pages
- Slight curl for duplex printouts
- Uses different and more expensive toner than 2170W
- WiFi limited to 802.11b/g
Once upon a time, I used to have an NEC laser printer, a generic scanner, and an Epson photo printer all on my desk. Well that got old and I consolidated to a multifunction printer and the last 3 printers I owned have all been color inkjet MFP's. The advantages were many but the one drawback was major. The cost per page for inkjet prints became huge, even when printing in black & white. Many color inkjet printers still use color inks when printing in black & white, thus requiring you to replace not only the black ink cartridges, but some of the color ones as well. For me, magenta and yellow frequently ran out, even though we ONLY ever printed in black & white. I'd finally had enough and sought out a solution. As recently as 3 weeks ago, I was able to purchase the 2170W for my parents for a great price and was going to get one myself but they all went out of stock or had gone up in price. Then I found out that they were being discontinued and the 2270DW was the newer model. I pulled the trigger and have not looked back.
2270DW vs. 2170W
The difference between the older 2170W and the newer 2270DW isn't limited to just the change in exterior color. Considering that the base MSRP remains the same, the 2270DW is an outstanding bargain. The 2270DW is slightly faster at 27ppm vs. 22ppm for the 2170W. The 2270DW also uses a 200MHz processor vs. the old 181MHz CPU. The dimensions are identical except that the 2270DW is half an inch taller and happens to weigh almost a half a pound more. I'm guessing the automatic duplexer is responsible for the slightly larger size. Brother also decided to get cheap and included a starter toner rated for only 700 pages, whereas the 2170W was 1000 pages or 2 full reams of paper. The 2270DW also adds GDI printing
INSTALL
The toner and drum are pre-installed but you have to remove it and prep (shake) it before use. I found the Quick Start Guide to be pretty clear and useful for all three connection methods. WiFi configuration is still a bit hokey, but it was easy enough in my opinion.
(USB)
The USB install was a cinch. Install the drivers off of the disc or download them from Brother's website, then plug the USB cable (not included) into your computer and you're good to go.
(Ethernet)
Though the printer's wireless abilities are nice to have, I prefer to use the Ethernet connection to plug the printer directly into my wireless router. This still allows me to print wirelessly from my laptop and via a hardware switch from my desktop. I also don't have to fiddle with the wireless settings and have a stronger, more reliable connection through my router. Using the install wizard, I selected Peer-to-Peer Network Printer as my preferred network print type and was off and running. I performed the same setup on my laptop over WiFi and installed perfectly. One note, I could not quickly find the MAC address to the Ethernet port so I disabled MAC filtering on my router temporarily. If you don't use MAC filtering, then you have nothing to worry about. Afterwards, I found out that you can print the settings from within the Brother print driver and find the MAC address.
(WiFi)
I think a lot of people think they need a WiFi printer to print wireless but most people have wireless routers already that they can just connect the printer to with an Ethernet cable. A printer with WiFi is really only useful if it won't be attached to your router and want it completely independent. As with the 2170W, the 2270DW requires it to be temporarily connected by USB cable or Ethernet to configure the wireless settings, unless, your wireless router supports WiFi Protected Setup or AOSS. The installation wizard on the CD-ROM is pretty straight-forward and I found the install to be painless. Although, if you are using MAC filtering and not broadcasting your SSID, you'll probably want to reverse those temporarily to configure it then switch it back. This is especially true if you are trying to configure the WiFi AFTER you've already set it up by Ethernet and using BRAdmin to do it. To find the internal wireless card's MAC address, hold down the Go button for 10 seconds until it prints a network config page that will enable/disable WiFi and also show you the MAC address. I don't really need WiFi so I only performed the install for the sake of reviewing the procedure.
PERFORMANCE
Time to print has been improved on the 2270DW by nearly 2 seconds, so less time warming up from sleep or off. The actual print speed improvement is less noticeable but 27ppm is insanely fast. I thought my Consumer Reports #1 rated, HP All-in-One Printer was pretty fast, but the 2270DW is at least twice as fast. Text output, even really tiny fonts, looked great. Graphics were also very good. The 2270DW still supports the most current PCL printer language, developed by HP. Oddly though, Brother decided to add GDI capabilities, which is also known as host-based printing and is typically used on low-end printers that put all the printer processing burden on the PC, rather than on the printer's hardware. For example, Brother's bare-bones, cheap 2140 laser printer is GDI only. The 2270DW already has PCL 6 support so I don't see any benefit to having GDI. Even if using a high-end PC might possibly achieve faster to-print speeds, I would think the extra load put on the PC would be a hindrance over just letting the printer's hardware take care of it. I would personally never buy a GDI-only printer. Lastly, given how recently this printer was released, I'm disappointed they didn't include the better 802.11n Wifi support.
NOISE
The 2270DW is noisier than the 2170W, so if you didn't like the 2170W for it's noise, then you definitely won't like the noise from the 2270DW. The fan does stay on for several minutes after it prints but shuts off eventually and then becomes totally silent. The sounds of a laser printer are a welcome change from the wonky noises that my inkjet printers made.
DUPLEXER
If you decide to use the automatic duplexer, it will add more time to your printouts, but what a convenience to not have to manually flip over sheets of paper. Brother rates the duplexer speed to 10 sides per minute. I've always liked the idea of using both sides of a sheet of paper. Save them trees! The duplexer on the 2270DW works well and I have not had any jams, knock on the wood of one of those trees I just saved. Aside from having network printing, the duplexer is my favorite feature of the 2270DW. The only downside to using the duplexer is that it has a noticeable curl. A commenter suggested that heavier paper (24 lb) as opposed to the more commonly used 20 lb paper might help reduce the curl and paper jams.
SOFTWARE
The drivers for the 2270DW include a lot of customization options for your printer, including using the Toner Saver Mode, which is similar to Draft Mode in inkjet printers. Unless you are printing a resume, the Toner Saver Mode is more than good enough for daily print jobs. Additionally, Brother laser printers have the ability to upgrade firmware. Given that the 2270DW is brand new, this is an important ability to note because bug fixes and performance improvements are sure to become available down the road. The most current version of the firmware as of this writing is v1.02. You can also install various administrator utilities for configuration and monitoring (BRAdmin). I used BRAdmin to change the Sleep time from 3 minutes to 2. Another neat feature is that you can use web based management by putting the IP address of your printer into a web browser. This is a great way to review settings and other useful information like how many pages you've printed, remaining drum life, serial number, and firmware version.
COST PER PAGE
The high-yield (2600 pages) genuine Brother toner (TN450) from Amazon is currently $46, which equates to about 1.8 cents per page. That is ridiculous! It is so much cheaper than most inkjets, which can cost between 4 cents and 8 cents per page of text. The only bummer is that the Brother drum unit (DR420) currently costs $84. At that price, if my 2270DW's drum needed replacing, I would probably just end up buying a new printer. The drum is rated at 12,000 pages, which is 24 reams of paper. A lot of factors go into when the drum unit should be replaced but given that I personally don't print more than a ream of paper per year, it would last me 24 years, or basically the life of the printer. Factoring in the...Read more›

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The hl-2270dw is a compact, monochrome laser printer with built-in wireless and ethernet network interfaces for small office or home office printer sharing.it features a fast print speed up to 27ppm, automatic duplex printing for two-sided documents, and up to 2400 x 600 dpi resolution for high-quality output.in addition, the printer\'s stylish, space-saving design fits virtually anywhere.the hl-2270dw provides flexible paper handling via an adjustable, 250-sheet capacity tray and a manual by-pass slot for printing thicker media.it also offers a high-yield 2,600-page replacement toner cartridge to help lower operating costs and a toner save mode for less critical business documents.

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