ISO: AIO Color Laser Printer

[Appletax]

I currently have an AIO HP Pro inkjet printer that has issue with the ink cartridges.
Inkjets seem to be too problematic and are expensive, so I want to upgrade to a laser printer.
I need suggestions.


Budget: ~$400

Feature requirements:
- Auto duplex
- Feeder - auto feed would be nice
- Scanner
- Wireless networking
- Great, user-friendly interface
- Windows 8.1 support

Things that are not important:
- Print speed/monthly output
- Picture quality

Cannot be HP


I am interested in this particular unit since it has everything I want, is within my budget, and has good reviews:

Brother MFC-9340CDW


I like:
- The size of the unit
- Supports wireless N
- Supports mobile printing and saving scans in the cloud
- Is relatively new (2013)

Concerns:
- Is Brother a good brand?
- It's an LED laser printer. Is that okay?
- Is it cost efficient?
- Not available on Amazon

 

[Steve202]

Without looking into the specs, I consider Brother a good printer manufacturer. I've got one, my parents, all my business customers (who have purchased a printer from me) and a few of my residential customers.

Can't go wrong imo.

 

[Moltuae]

I can't comment on that printer specifically, but I can comment on my experience of Brother laser/LED printers in general.

To be honest, they're one of my first choices when choosing a printer for a myself or a customer. They're relatively inexpensive yet pretty hard-wearing and reliable. One example, and one of my favourite models, was the HL-3040CN (now discontinued). I supplied around 15 of those (mostly for use as network printers for my business customers) a few years ago and most of them are still going strong. A few of them have had some pretty heavy use too, printing 500 to 2000 sheets a month. Granted, the heavily used machines have had most of the consumable parts replaced once or twice over their 2-3 year life, but there have been no failures. The only machines that have been replaced were replaced simply because it was more economical to do so. The cost of the replacement consumables was greater than the cost of a new HL-304CN at the time (partly because I was able to source some very cheap (£60) HL-3040CNs just before they were discontinued).

OEM toner can be a bit expensive, as with any colour laser/LED printer, but it's usually possible to source refilled cartridges for much less.

 

[FremontPC]

A shop up the street got the MFC9130CW and seems to be happy with it, but N.B., it's wireless or USB only. No Ethernet connection, so check the specs before you pull the trigger.

 

[aweston]

I haven't seen a good Brother printer yet. They're terrible and very slow. Even every client that we have that has one hates it. I bought one for our office and sent it back three hours later. It was garbage.

HP, Canon or Xerox is the way to go. I personally only recommend Xerox, but they are expensive. On the plus side it's the only printer we've ever had that we've not been able to destroy.

Worst was Samsung (six months) that Samsung refused to honour the warranty. Best other than Xerox was an HP that went three years before finally collapsing in a pile of silica sand and toner dust.

 

[Appletax]

I haven't seen a good Brother printer yet. They're terrible and very slow. Even every client that we have that has one hates it. I bought one for our office and sent it back three hours later. It was garbage.

HP, Canon or Xerox is the way to go. I personally only recommend Xerox, but they are expensive. On the plus side it's the only printer we've ever had that we've not been able to destroy.

Worst was Samsung (six months) that Samsung refused to honour the warranty. Best other than Xerox was an HP that went three years before finally collapsing in a pile of silica sand and toner dust.

One guy praises Brother and you bash it. That makes it hard to make a decision. You like HP printers and I hate them. Ugh

 

[aweston]

How many Brother printers have they seen? Always consider the sample size. We do thousands of repairs and thousands of service calls every year. We see tons and tons of printers of every make, model, size and price point.

HP isn't ideal, but you don't want to fork out the money for a good printer. You want to cut corners and pretty much do the impossible, getting something for nothing. Exactly what you wouldn't want your clients to do. To get something good you're going to have to spend the money. If not, you're going to have to settle for the lesser of the remaining evils.

How much do they print? We print over 100 pages a day. We don't have time to wait for slow, clunky, craptastic printing.

If you want to compromise and settle, we've found that the safest compromise is an HP commercial grade laser. The second best, for less volume, is the Canon. Brother is consumer grade garbage. It's the Acer of the printer world.

In the end it's your money. Don't over-think it though. Do it right, or do it many. It's up to you.

 

[aweston]

This is what we use. Toners do 8000 impressions a piece. Full duplex, 50 sheet feed scanner, copy, fax, network and USB, secure printing, 20PPM color, output in less than 10 seconds from power save, PCL6, 60,000 impression duty cycle, 400MHz processor with 384MB of RAM, web interface, full range of printing styles and options.

The thing is a tank, near bullet proof.

I'll give some perspective. The Samsung went six months. At the end of the six months the hinges were broken, the drum and fuser failed, the thing literally screamed when it printed. Complete garbage. The HP we had, the board died in it twice. The Brother was so slow we could have drawn it by hand faster and it was noisy. The Xerox has needed absolutely zero maintenance the whole time we've owned it.

 

[Appletax]

If you want to compromise and settle, we've found that the safest compromise is an HP commercial grade laser. The second best, for less volume, is the Canon. Brother is consumer grade garbage. It's the Acer of the printer world

Last month I spent an hour trying to get an HP Officejet Pro to connect wirelessly to the router. It wouldn't hold the connect after setting it up through the onboard LCD nor through the Windows software. I had to press the WPS button on the router to get the thing to work. I'm very unimpressed with HP. I have an Officejet Pro myself and the ink cartridges are always having errors and the black ink replacement cartridge I bought never worked right.

The printer that you use is north of $1000 I only print once in awhile so that is extremely overkill. And for that much quid it should have an onboard LCD screen. It looks really outdated.

 

[aweston]

Last month I spent an hour trying to get an HP Officejet Pro to connect wirelessly to the router. It wouldn't hold the connect after setting it up through the onboard LCD nor through the Windows software. I had to press the WPS button on the router to get the thing to work. I'm very unimpressed with HP. I have an Officejet Pro myself and the ink cartridges are always having errors and the black ink replacement cartridge I bought never worked right.

The printer that you use is north of $1000 I only print once in awhile so that is extremely overkill. And for that much quid it should have an onboard LCD screen. It looks really outdated.

That Xerox is several years old now. It does have an LCD screen, but it's not a touch screen. It's small but ample.

Hasn't anyone ever told you that wireless printing is crap? It doesn't matter what printer you use, never use wireless. It just isn't reliable enough. I would suggest that wouldn't be a fair trial as I've seen that across the board. Radio is tricky at the best of times. Printing/scanning is not the place for it as far as I'm concerned. Turn wireless off. If you MUST, use a wireless print server and connect the printer to that.

For HP, I think we're talking two different things. I thought you said you wanted a laser. It appears to me that you're talking about inkjet printers. I don't use inkjets ever. I will buy one for residential clients as they can be well suited for that application. The HP Laserjets are typically a different animal altogether.

As for the price, yeah, it's over a grand. Toners are about $300 a piece for them and we go through them several times a year. However, do bear this in mind. For the lifespan of that printer you most likely will go through several cheaper printers, spending more than one good one in the end....as long as the good one is in your budget.

 

['putertutor]

Brother is a solid name. I don't have experience with your specific model, but I always recommend brother first. They are stable on wireless and I've never really had an issue with them. Stay away from HP. Unless you get into the upper end of their business line, HP is all trash.

 

[phaZed]

I have a Brother HL2270DW laser (Amazon Link) and it has never given me any issues over the 3 or so years I have had it.
The other nice thing about the Brother printers is that their drivers are lightweight... compare that to a 360-400MB HP Driver set full of crap.. ugh.

I also have an OKI C330dn color laser printer that has been solid as well with excellent print quality for brochures and what not. No issues whatsoever with the OKI other than toner is a bit high, albeit, lasts forever.

I can't express how much I detest HP, Canon, and Samsung printers. Total garbage IMO.

 

[Appletax]

That Xerox is several years old now. It does have an LCD screen, but it's not a touch screen. It's small but ample.

Hasn't anyone ever told you that wireless printing is crap? It doesn't matter what printer you use, never use wireless. It just isn't reliable enough. I would suggest that wouldn't be a fair trial as I've seen that across the board. Radio is tricky at the best of times. Printing/scanning is not the place for it as far as I'm concerned. Turn wireless off. If you MUST, use a wireless print server and connect the printer to that.

Another option is to connect the printer to the router with an Ethernet cable. It essentially turns it into a wireless printer.

The customer's printer is an HP Inkjet Pro.

I could never justify dropping a grand for a printer when I barely use it. It would be foolish unless I made a lot of money. I'm just a college student with debt.

 

[Appletax]

I have a Brother HL2270DW laser (Amazon Link) and it has never given me any issues over the 3 or so years I have had it.
The other nice thing about the Brother printers is that their drivers are lightweight... compare that to a 360-400MB HP Driver set full of crap.. ugh.

I also have an OKI C330dn color laser printer that has been solid as well with excellent print quality for brochures and what not. No issues whatsoever with the OKI other than toner is a bit high, albeit, lasts forever.

I can't express how much I detest HP, Canon, and Samsung printers. Total garbage IMO.

I like what you say about the drivers. HP drivers come with bloatware that is not needed; thankfully, a lot of times they offer basic drivers on their site.

I very much am interested in the Brother printer at this time so I think the next step is to go to Staples to see a demo of their products, if possible. Otherwise, I'd have to go to Best Buy, which is an hour away (does Best Buy have printer demos?).

 

[aweston]

Another option is to connect the printer to the router with an Ethernet cable. It essentially turns it into a wireless printer.

The customer's printer is an HP Inkjet Pro.

I could never justify dropping a grand for a printer when I barely use it. It would be foolish unless I made a lot of money. I'm just a college student with debt.

Got it. Then ok, you can settle for a Brother. I mean why does Acer sell computers? Because people don't want to spend the money on something good when crap will do. The same goes for Brother. They're for people that aren't discerning and could care less about quality over quantity.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

Got it. Then ok, you can settle for a Brother. I mean why does Acer sell computers? Because people don't want to spend the money on something good when crap will do. The same goes for Brother. They're for people that aren't discerning and could care less about quality over quantity.

I wholeheartedly disagree.... I sell plenty of $500 to one thousand dollar brothers and have no issues, if you need enterprise size then their are better options, but after servicing on average 2500 printers a year for the last few years I've seen most of the issues.... and the brother units do well even their cheap lasers are much better than hps in my experience.

 

[aweston]

Another option is to connect the printer to the router with an Ethernet cable. It essentially turns it into a wireless printer.

The customer's printer is an HP Inkjet Pro.

I could never justify dropping a grand for a printer when I barely use it. It would be foolish unless I made a lot of money. I'm just a college student with debt.

Another option for you is going to a cheaper Xerox. Try out the Workcentre 6015/NI. Still a tank, just more budget friendly.

 

[Steve202]

Got it. Then ok, you can settle for a Brother. I mean why does Acer sell computers? Because people don't want to spend the money on something good when crap will do. The same goes for Brother. They're for people that aren't discerning and could care less about quality over quantity.

I have to disagree with this. Sure Brother do some cheap printers, but their mid to high range stuff is brilliant and built like a brick. I've deployed Brother printers in dusty, damp warehouses and they get hammered every day and apart from having to change the drum every so often, they are still going strong.

 

[acscva]

I was a brother service center previously for 10 years. They do have some low end inkjet and laser products but if you are spending $400+ then you typically will get a decent unit. I have a MFC9840CDW that is 5 years old that I use everyday and it is a great machine and use compatible toners to save a ton of money. Staples has deals on these brother printers quite often that you can sometimes get up to $200 off their units. I don't sell them anymore as there isn't a lot of money to be made on them but I do sell toner/drum cartridges for them and do make decent money on them.

For one of their current great models check out the MFC-9340CDW or MFC-9560CDW. Both include duplex (2 sided printing and copying) along with wired and wireless interfaces.

I always check google shopping for who has the best deals along with staples, officemax/officedepot, etc.

 

[Appletax]

Got it. Then ok, you can settle for a Brother. I mean why does Acer sell computers? Because people don't want to spend the money on something good when crap will do. The same goes for Brother. They're for people that aren't discerning and could care less about quality over quantity.

I appreciate that you are about quality just like me, but marginal analysis says spending 1k on a printer that I will barely use is really foolish. That kind of money is normally spent on products that get used A LOT. There's other things that need to be bought that are more important, like gas. I have to settle for something lower-end because I am not a Rockefeller lol. I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck, which I have around 400 of them to spend.

Another option for you is going to a cheaper Xerox. Try out the Workcentre 6015/NI. Still a tank, just more budget friendly.

That unit has bad reviews so it is not perfect. It has a relatively slow output and people are complaining about high toner costs.

I need a demo of the unit I want or of one that is very close in model number so I can see for myself how the interface works and what the output quality is. Or, I can purchase the unit and return it if I don't like it at first.

There's a lot of people here praising the durability of Brother's products, especially the more expensive units, so there is hope that I will have a good experience. I will look into extended warranties so that I can have greater peace of mind.

I appreciate everyone's feedback. All of it is helpful.