Nice printer - satisfying results!!

Category: Review on Brother HL-2040 Laser Black and White Printer

Posted by: 3-Oct-2006

Strengths: Provides excellent results, easy to store

Weaknesses: Noisy whenn printing, not completely durable, has a problem with transparencies, and tends to last a short stime (six months-year)

The Brother HL 2040 is a nice little laser printer intended for use in an office setting or for personal home use. It is convenient space- and time-wise for anyone, serving both business and Internet or offline work.

The Brother HL 2040 provides many features, not the least of which is the capacity to produce a great number of prints at a very fast speed, which seems to be the device’s primary purpose. Among other highlights of the Brother HL 2040, simple and easy set up and operation (you’ll get going in about five minutes!); print quality is 2,400 x 600 dpi resolution; 250-sheet input capacity; 8MB standard memory; parallel and USB 2.0 interface; PC, Mac, and Linux compatibility; fine, readable text (600 dpi through Linux); space-saving compact design; a web-based user support system; a toner cartridge with the capacity of printing from 1,500 to 12, 000 pages; an NC-2100p external Ethernet print server as well an NV-2200w external wireless print server, along with a variety of other port print server capabilities; and a 1-year warranty with a limited express exchange. This is a very affordable printer, ranging from $100 to $200 on average, or less on sale. Rebates are frequently available with this!

At 14 lbs and measuring 14.6 x 13.2 x 6.5, the Brother HL 2040 is small, so it’s easy to store, pack away, or move around.

The drawbacks, however, can provide some inconveniences, depending on the user’s needs. Where the output is fast (and that makes up for many disadvantages), the Brother HL 2040 provides only one-colour printing and so-so graphics quality, but that would be expected, considering the price. The device also tends to be flimsy and noisy (one attribute of the Brother printers is supposedly an incessant clicking during printing), and the small size, although serving well in compactness, causes frequent curling in the prints. Also, transparency printing tends to be a problem, unless, perhaps, the required job is to be small and simple. Finally, the lifespan of the printer is not necessarily a long one (6 months to a year), but its production output serves impressively well during its lifetime.

All in all, the Brother HL 2040 is not a bad machine. It’s a good printer for those who don’t anticipate a high volume or quality of printing. This works well as an inexpensive “need-it-right-now” device and will allow saving for those who are on a limited budget.