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Brother HL-5240
Date of Review: Mar 16, 2006
The Bottom Line: "Workhorse" syling, performance, speed, and size--may be better suited for a home office or business, but why not spoil yourself at home?
Supplementing our 4-year-old Epson Stylus C60 color inkjet with a black-and-white laser printer was prompted by my husband's and my changing "extra-curricular" responsibilities, as well as our children's scholastic needs. Although the Brother HL-5240 is arguably more laser printer than we need, I appreciate the speed, silence, and crisp print detail, as well as the fact that I won't have to replace a toner cartridge for a long time. Here's what you get:
SPECIFICATIONS:
Color: Dark gray with light gray trim
Dimensions: Listed at 14.6"W x 9.7"H x 15.1"D, although mine is a bit smaller each way. You need an additional 1.5" clearance on the back left and right corners for the interface cord and electrical cord, respectively. The power switch and air vents are on the right side of the unit.
Weight: Listed at 20.9 lbs for the machine only; 23.6 lbs when loaded with print drum and toner cartridge.
Print Speed: up to 30 ppm. The machine warms up in just less than 15 seconds; the first page emerges in just less than 10 seconds.
Resolution: Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
PCL6 and BR-Script3 emulations
Paper Capacity: 250 pages in main tray, which handles plain paper, bond, recycled, transparencies, and "thin" paper up to 28 lb. media. This tray has an indicator for amount of paper remaining.
50 pages in Multi-Purpose tray, which additionally handles envelopes, labels, "thick" paper, and "thicker" paper, up to 43 lb. media.
This 300 sheet capacity can be expanded to 800 sheets with up to two optional paper trays.
The paper output tray holds 150 pages.
Paper sizes: from 2.75" to 8.5" width; from 4.57" to 16" length.
Duty Cycle: up to 20,000 pages per month.
Toner Save and Power Save modes
Manual Duplex capability
Print yields: Standard toner cartridge--3,500 pages @ 5% coverage; High yield toner cartridge (optional)--7,000 pages @ 5% coverage; Print drum--25,000 pages.
Memory: 16MB standard; upgradeable to 528MB
Interface: Parallel or USB 2.0 (neither cable is included-they recommend a 6-foot or less cable)
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
WARRANTY: One-year limited warranty and replacement on machine; 90-day (or rated life) of included consumables such as drum and toner. Non-transferable.
CONTROL PANEL: Front left corner of top surface
4 LED indicators: Toner, Drum, Paper, Status--combinations of green, yellow, red lights, blinking or not, tell what is going on. (A chart in Quick Set-Up Guide elaborates.)
"Job Cancel" Button: cancels print job in progress.
"Go" Button: Serves as manual wake-up, error recovery, form feed, or reprint.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX:
Quick Set-up Guide--basic instruction manual
Warranty Card
Product Registration Card--can mail, fax, or do this online
CD-ROM--with drivers, same set-up instructions as printed guide, and in-depth instructions manual.
AC Power cord
Drum unit and toner cartridge assembly in a sealed mylar bag.
Laser printer body
(No USB or parallel interface cables)
SET-UP PROCEDURE:
Very simple--I did this myself with no help from my husband or 14-year-old. Took me about 40 minutes start to finish, but that included reading the "end user agreement," readjusting things on my computer desk, and fishing wires.
1. Insert CD-ROM, choose one of 11 languages, follow the on-screen prompts.
2. Install drum/toner assembly. (It drops right in.)
3. Load paper in main tray. Adjustable paper guides make alignment easy.
4. Attach power cord.
5. Install printer driver and interface cable, following the on-screen prompts and diagrams.
MY EXPERIENCE:
Overall, I am pleased with this printer. Operation is quiet and fast. Text is crisp; graphics are clear. I can fill it with paper and forget about it. It's easier to do double-sided printing with this unit than with my inkjet, even though it must also be done manually. The on-screen prompts guide you through the process, and the printer knows what it's doing. I had one problem with a three-page document, but it may have just been user error! I've been using 24 lb, 92 bright paper with good results--it comes out slightly curled, but flattens back out.
This printer's footprint is bigger than I'd like, but I have space for it. It goes to sleep fairly quickly after a print job (my son says I can change that-I haven't checked), and there is no difference between "sleep" mode or power "off" mode on the indicator lights. This is only a "problem" when I flip the power strip on the next morning and the printer comes on because it was never turned off. The multi-purpose paper tray has two grooves that I always manage to catch the paper corners on as I'm loading it, but the paper alignment adjuster works smoothly with only one hand. Envelopes come out very flattened, curved, and a bit creased from the tight print space-printed labels may be a better option for volume mailings. I can't pull up a print preview option in one of my older home publishing programs when this printer is selected.
