Laser/LED Printer Specifications and Parting Advice
Laser/LED Printer Specifications - Part 1
Model | Price | Print Tech | Max. Black Speed | Max. Color Speed | Max. Print Resolution | Standard Input Capacity |
HL-2270DW | $149.99 | laser | 27 ppm | N/A | 2400x600 | 250 |
HL-5340D | $199.99 | laser | 32 ppm | N/A | 1200x1200 | 250 |
MFC-7340 | $199.99 | laser | 21 ppm | N/A | 2400x600 | 250 |
MFC-8480DN | $399.99 | laser | 32 ppm | N/A | 1200x1200 | 250 |
HL-3070C | $299.99 | LED | 17 ppm | 17 ppm | 2400x600 | 250 |
HL-4570CDW | $499.99 | laser | 30 ppm | 30 ppm | 2400x600 | 250 |
MFC-9120CN | $399.99 | LED | 17 ppm | 17 ppm | 2400x600 | 250 |
MFC-9460CDN | $599.99 | laser | 25 ppm | 25 ppm | 2400x600 | 300 |
Laser/LED Printer Specifications - Part 2
Model | Duplex? | Max. Monthly Duty Cycle | Fax? | Scan? | ADF capacity | Ethernet? | WiFi? | USB Direct? |
HL-2270DW | yes | 10,000 | no | no | none | yes | yes | no |
HL-5340D | yes | 30,000 | no | no | none | no | no | no |
MFC-7340 | no | 10,000 | yes | yes | 35 | no | no | no |
MFC-8480DN | yes | 30,000 | yes | yes | 50 | yes | no | yes |
HL-3070C | no | 25,000 | no | no | none | yes | yes | yes |
HL-4570CDW | yes | 60,000 | no | no | none | yes | yes | yes |
MFC-9120CN | no | 25,000 | yes | yes | 35 | yes | no | no |
MFC-9460CDN | yes | 40,000 | yes | yes | 35 | yes | no | yes |
Parting Advice
In the real world, we have to confess that some of the specs we’ve frequently mentioned—output speeds in particular—are only mildly useful. Printer manufacturers generally base their performance numbers on 10% coverage, meaning only 10% of a page has ink or toner on it. If you’re printing out PDFs with graphics in them, how much coverage is that? Naturally, you probably have no idea. These ppm numbers serve mostly to rank printer models in terms of fast, faster, and fastest. That’s about as precise as you’re going to get.
Some things can’t be measured, such as how intuitive a printer’s menu system is for the average user. Brother is better than most about keeping its products friendly and accessible, but you still want to try out a model first-hand. Ideally, try to find a retailer with a floor model you can try out. Bring a flash drive with some job samples to try out if your desired model supports USB Direct.
Not least of all, give careful thought to features. It’s easy to overspend in this category. In this author’s home office, there hasn’t been a need to receive a fax in several years, and the need to send one crops up perhaps twice each year. Is faxing alone worth an extra $50 to you? You’ll have to be the judge. The good news is that these printers all excel in output quality. We no longer need to agonize over which models have sharper text and so on. For business use, all of them look fantastic. The remaining questions ultimately boil down to the issue of total value. Identify the features that will make a difference to your daily productivity and invest in those aspects for maximum return.
