Rating: 
Summary: Why not buy refills? 1 penny for 2 pages.
Review: I see several people writing about replacing the cartridge and drum. You can get ink REFILLS for $20. I've refilled 5 times using the same cartridge and drum. One company used the code BT-201 to specify toner that works for HL5040, HL1560, HL1650, HL1670N, HL5050, HL5070N. There isn't a less expensive way to print. Do a internet search on something like: bulk toner refill laser brother
Rating:
Summary: Why not buy refills? 1 penny for 2 pages.
Review: I see several people writing about replacing the cartridge and drum. You can get ink REFILLS for $20. I've refilled 5 times using the same cartridge and drum. Ink BT-201 works for HL5040, HL1560, HL1650, HL1670N, HL5050, HL5070N. There isn't a less expensive way to print.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: I work as an independent paralegal, doing research and preparing documents to file with the Courts. I purchased this unit about 6 weeks ago because my inkjet printer was too slow and too expensive for big projects.
Like the other inexpensive Brother laser printers, this one is a very good value, and has features of more expensive printers. It does have some cheap plastic parts, but this is to be expected in this price range. Other inexpensive laser printers look feel cheap in comparison.
On the good side, the printer has the 250 page paper drawer located in a drawer under the printer, where it belongs. This way, you don't have an unsightly flop of paper on the desk in front of you. It also has a front door for feeding single sheets so you don't have to open the drawer and replace the paper, reset the paper guides, and so forth, simply to print a single envelope. It also pops printed paper out of the top into a proper paper recepticle, or you can open the door at the back of the printer and let the paper feed straight through.
The printer is fast, at 17 pages per minute, and warms up fairly quickly so you don't have to wait too long for it to start. Print quality is good, and small fonts are legible with no bleeding. The grayscale for graphics is good, with nice even printing and little graininess.
The biggest problem I have with this printer is that the drum and toner cartridge are replaced separately. This is not as much a problem as an annoyance. The printer drum has to be changed every 20,000 copies or so, and costs almost as much as the printer itself. The toner is inexpensive relative to other printers, but the drum is around $100. Despite having this unusual expense every four or five toner cartridges, the per page cost is still only about 1.5 cents per copy. This is comparable to other laser printers, and is significantly cheaper than inkjet printers. In comparison to inkjet printers, this laser will pay for itself in the first 5,000 to 10,000 copies.
For a home or small office, this printer gives a lot of bang for the buck. Given the high quality of the black and white print, the low per page cost, and the speed, this printer is a steal.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: I work as an independent paralegal, doing research and preparing documents to file with the Courts. I purchased this unit about 6 weeks ago because my inkjet printer was too slow and too expensive for big projects.Like the other inexpensive Brother laser printers, this one is a very good value, and has features of more expensive printers. It does have some cheap plastic parts, but this is to be expected in this price range. Other inexpensive laser printers look feel cheap in comparison. On the good side, the printer has the 250 page paper drawer located in a drawer under the printer, where it belongs. This way, you don't have an unsightly flop of paper on the desk in front of you. It also has a front door for feeding single sheets so you don't have to open the drawer and replace the paper, reset the paper guides, and so forth, simply to print a single envelope. It also pops printed paper out of the top into a proper paper recepticle. The printer is fast, at 17 pages per minute, and warms up fairly quickly so you don't have to wait too long for it to start. Print quality is good, and small fonts are legible with no bleeding. The grayscale for graphics is good, with nice even printing and little graininess. The biggest problem I have with this printer is that the drum and toner cartridge are replaced separately. This is not as much a problem as an annoyance. The printer drum has to be changed every 20,000 copies or so, and costs almost as much as the printer itself. The toner is inexpensive relative to other printers, but the drum is around $100. Despite having this unusual expense every four or five toner cartridges, the per page cost is still only about 1.5 cents per copy. This is comparable to other laser printers, and is significantly cheaper than inkjet printers. In comparison to inkjet printers, this laser will pay for itself in the first 5,000 to 10,000 copies. For a home or small office, this printer gives a lot of bang for the buck. Given the high quality of the black and white print, the low per page cost, and the speed, this printer is a steal.
Rating:
Summary: Great for linux!
Review: I've been struggling to keep my Apple Laserwriter 16/600 running with linux for several years. It's been fantastic. But after my last upgrade to SuSE 8.2, I ran into several problems getting the drivers installed and configured. So, I finally decided it was time to get a new printer. I chose this printer because it is well supported under linux, prints very fast at 17 pages per minute, has a fast first print time (under 10 seconds) and unlike the HL-1440 comes with 8MB of memory for printing larger files. It's also PCL6 compatible so it will work with just about any operating system. I had this printer out of the box, plugged in, configured and printing a PDF file in less then 20 minutes. It's also dead silent when not printing. The only problems I've noticed is that fields of solid black appear to have nearly invisible faint gray lines, and text could be printed a bit darker. But this could be due to the newness of the printer, toner saver settings, etc. If you're looking for a great laser printer for a home linux system seriously consider this one. ...
Rating:
Summary: Great laser printer for a great price
Review: I've had this printer for about 10 months & use it all the time. I'm an independent notary signing agent & print mortgage documents with it several times per week. I've had an occasional paper jam, but easily cleared. As for crinkling of envelopes on manual feed, just set the guides a little farther out, so the envelope has room to flow through & no crinkles...I learned that from my office's HP 4 -- same issue there. Easy to correct. Haven't had to replace a drum yet, though I've gone through at least 3 toner cartridges already. Memory is adequate even for 100-pg pdf files.
All in all, I like this printer & I'd buy it again. I compared to HP and Minolta & felt this was the better deal for the price & features. I did purchase the optional lower paper tray, so I don't have to constantly switch everything between letter & legal when printing.
Setting up the printer was cake! Easiest component to set up yet!
Rating:
Summary: Easy Easy Easy
Review: It doesn't get much more PnP than this. I'm running my HL-5040 on a parallel connection to a WinXP Pro machine, and then through the network to other systems running Win98 and Linux. The printer setup on the main XP machine took about 15 minutes, and the other machines about 5 minutes each. It took me longer to configure my firewall(s) than it did to get the printer accessible on all the systems. I suppose this is a fine example of NOT needing to buy the 2100p print server. The print quality was very suprising for a laser in this price bracket. I was expecting a HP 1200 quality level, but it seems (to me) to be far better. As a former Office Max employee, I'm rather picky about printers, but this one fits the bill. High volume, speed, and low(er) per-page cost than most. Yes, it is noisy. About as loud as a Canon multi-pass doing its thing (read: you CAN hear it, but it's not excessively loud) To the people complaining about picture quality: It's a two hundred dollar laser printer. If you want pretty pictures but an inkjet. If you want volume and crisp text, buy a laser. If you want both, SPEND MORE MONEY. I know everyone wants the best on the market for peanuts, but that's not the way it works. TANSTAAFL. I have noticed the "power drain" issue as well. My lights do the "brownout" thing and my speakers hum. I also have a house that was built in 1952. If you read the UL label on the 5040 it lists the draw at 8.8A (incredible, but believe it) so be prepared with some good breakers. (comparison: I run two 21" Diamond Pro monitors on the same desk and the total draw between them is 3.4A) My overall opinion is this: I couldn't be happier. I've been eyeballing small lasers for about a decade now with a specific set of requirements in mind. High speed, good drum life, high-cap toners, half-ream paper tray, and parallel connection were the important ones. This printer fufills all those requirements AND fits nicely on the corner of my desk. Just gotta remember to shut off the lights before that big print job. ;)
Rating:
Summary: Easy Easy Easy
Review: It doesn't get much more PnP than this. I'm running my HL-5040 on a parallel connection to a WinXP Pro machine, and then through the network to other systems running Win98 and Linux. The printer setup on the main XP machine took about 15 minutes, and the other machines about 5 minutes each. It took me longer to configure my firewall(s) than it did to get the printer accessible on all the systems. I suppose this is a fine example of NOT needing to buy the 2100p print server. The print quality was very suprising for a laser in this price bracket. I was expecting a HP 1200 quality level, but it seems (to me) to be far better. As a former Office Max employee, I'm rather picky about printers, but this one fits the bill. High volume, speed, and low(er) per-page cost than most. Yes, it is noisy. About as loud as a Canon multi-pass doing its thing (read: you CAN hear it, but it's not excessively loud) To the people complaining about picture quality: It's a two hundred dollar laser printer. If you want pretty pictures but an inkjet. If you want volume and crisp text, buy a laser. If you want both, SPEND MORE MONEY. I know everyone wants the best on the market for peanuts, but that's not the way it works. TANSTAAFL. I have noticed the "power drain" issue as well. My lights do the "brownout" thing and my speakers hum. I also have a house that was built in 1952. If you read the UL label on the 5040 it lists the draw at 8.8A (incredible, but believe it) so be prepared with some good breakers. (comparison: I run two 21" Diamond Pro monitors on the same desk and the total draw between them is 3.4A) My overall opinion is this: I couldn't be happier. I've been eyeballing small lasers for about a decade now with a specific set of requirements in mind. High speed, good drum life, high-cap toners, half-ream paper tray, and parallel connection were the important ones. This printer fufills all those requirements AND fits nicely on the corner of my desk. Just gotta remember to shut off the lights before that big print job. ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Good, fast printer except for one thing...
Review: Like one of the reviewers said below, the printer occasionally prints out a page with a blank space/white line running horizontally across it. When this happens, it's always with a multi-page document (usually on page 2 ONLY of the document, go figure)! I've tried just about all the troubleshooting tips included in the Brother manual, but the problem still periodically occurs. I've never experienced this kink with any other printer, whether laser or inkjet. Please note that the blank space/white line doesn't appear all the time--if it did, I of course would have returned the printer, pronto! I haven't contacted Brother's customer service dept. yet. While kinda annoying, the quirkiness (if you will) is not a big deal to me. The affected page always re-prints out fine. Regarding envelopes, I haven't experienced jamming or any other problem. Once in a while, the printed address comes out a bit crooked, but this happens at times with my trusty HP inkjet, too.
Rating:
Summary: Can't beat it for the price!
Review: This is a terrific printer. I needed to replace my NEC 1260, which was begining to jam all the time and the cartridges were becoming very hard to find. For less than the price of a new NEC toner cartridge, I bought this printer (another site had a short-term terrific price.) I could not be more pleased. Easy to set up, superfast printing (my old laser was 12ppm), affordable replacement cartridges, small footprint.
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