Join for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation plus sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
The Brother HL-5240DN aims a bit higher up the pecking order, and seeks to serve the printing needs of small workgroups with its 10/100 Ethernet connectivity and large, expandable paper capacity. The unit ships with two 250-page paper trays and a 50-sheet multi-purpose tray, and will accommodate a third 250-page paper tray as well. It also includes built-in duplex capability and can print on both sides of a sheet of paper if instructed to do so.
Two paper trays comes standard with the HL5240dn model, and a third will set you back another $135.
This printer comes equipped with an RJ-45 for 10/100 Ethernet access, plus parallel and USB 2.0 ports, as well as 32 MB of RAM (with an additional 144-pin DIMM slot that can handle 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB or 512 MB of RAM). Prices for this printer range from about $190 to $240, but given the unit's capacity, a duplexer, expandable RAM, 30 ppm output and 20,000 pages-per-month duty cycle; you get a lot of printer for the money (and even more if you spend $200 or so on accessories). It's a bit bigger than the HL-2040, with dimensions of 14.6" x 15.1" x 9.7" (37.08cm x 38.35cm x 24.64) and weight of 21.6 lbs (9.8 kg).
Consumables for the HL-5240DN come in several forms. You can purchase a regular toner cartridge that's good for about 3,500 pages for $74, a high-yield cartridge that's good for 7,000 pages for $98 or a drum unit that's good for up to 25,000 pages for $178.
This is a great laser printer for higher-volume users, or for those who wish to make a printer available on the network.
Maybe I am reading it wrong but this printer offers a separate image drum compared to its toner drum. They come apart and you can buy toner separately. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the toner might last 2500 pages, but the drum is good for 10,000, so why replace the drum if it isn't ready? The other personal laser printer I was looking at only had one replaceable part, drum/toner together. This was the main reason I got one, I could control my cost better.
Brother HL-2040 is a compact monochrome laser printer designed for both small office and personal use. Brother HL-2040 features a built-in memory of 8MB, 250-sheet paper capacity tray and affordable printing supplies. Compatible Brother HL-2040 toners are known for its quality and inexpensive price tag. As such, Brother HL-2040 toner cartridges are able to generate 2,500 pages of high quality printouts at top 5% coverage.
