Brother HL-5170DN Network Laser Printer

Rating:
Summary: This IS a great printer...
Review: I have to agree with the other review and say that this is a great printer. For about nine months now I have been using this printer in an office where it is networked to 6 PCs. Everyone in the office is pleased with the speed and quality of the print jobs handled by this machine. I also agree that this printer's main strength is as a "network" printer. It is easily connected to your network and can be left "ready and waiting" all the time.

About the only downside to this thing is that if you haven't sent a print job in a while (like overnight) it takes the printer a good while to warm up (10-15 seconds). Once it is warmed up though, it really cranks the pages out fast.

If you have a need for a solid quality, networked printer that has some high end print features, this is the machine for you!



Rating:
Summary: Printer won't mix and match legal and letter
Review: My review is limited to print capabilities: I bought the 5170 and the extra tray for the sole purpose of printing mortgage documents which alternate between legal and letter paper. This machine will not perform this function automatically. I write this review because I wish I had known this. I know other printer's exist which will perform this function. Live and learn.

Rating:
Summary: great usable laser printer
Review: This is a decent printer for what you get. The main feature I use is the network connection. I easily connected it to my network in the other room where it was convenient, and leave it turned on and plugged in all the time. It uses very little power when on standby. Then, when I want to print, I can do it from any machine in the house and very quickly (I think in 10 seconds) it starts churning out the pages.

It has lots of hidden features you have to pay more for with other printers. You can configure it with a web interface. It is postscript/pcl compatible and I think it'll work with linux if you mess around with it.

I also have a canon inkjet printer which is very good for photos, but I don't use it anywhere near as often because I have to plug it into my apple laptop, turn it on, load the photo paper and (sometimes) do a cleaning cycle.

The brother printer is just always there ready to print within 10 seconds. It's like the difference between logging into your ISP with dialup and having always-connected dsl.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Value!
Review: This printer represents a remarkable value. It is well made, and it does everything as advertised.

Set-up is a breeze, and the documentation is put togeter well.

I still can't believe that I was able to purchase a network capable, automatic duplexing, PostScript compatible laser printer for this price.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, suprisingly good
Review: We purchased this printer for a home office with both Macs and PCs. This printer has terrific Macintosh OSX support and is easily monitored/controlled using it's website interface (automatically appears in Safari's bookmarks toolbar if you turn on the Safari Rendezvous preference). This printer is very fast to warm up and prints the first page in about 10 seconds. I like that it is absolutely silent when in standby mode and wakes/sleeps on its own. My only problem is that I haven't yet determined if there's a better way to switching duplex printing on/off other than via the web control panel.