Reviews for Brother HL-2140 Laser Printer

Beware of the Brother's out-of-toner scam and...

Strengths: Seems strongly built.

Weakness: "Out-of-toner" scam, jams often for no reason, stops printing for no reason very often.

BROTHER printers are TONER SCAM and a are waste of time. The Youtube video about the BROTHER toner scam worked like a charm! All I did was taped the sensors with sticky tape and it works again (when it works)! No more "CLEAN CORONA WIRE..." error and no more TONER light. Lots of toner left in the cartridge, all you do is tape the sensors on both sides and I was able to print another 1712 pages (with many red lights in between for no reason) with it until the toner ran out! This is my last B(R)OTHER ever.

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All that one needs for basic printing

Strengths: speed

Weakness: width of unit could be smaller

This is a nice home printing unit. I especially appreciate the fact that it has three printing resolution selections under the toner saving mode. It makes the toner last alot longer.

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PERFECT LITTLE PRINTER

Strengths: Beautiful-Looking Machine, Easy To Use, Durable construction, Compact Design, Sharp detail, Reliable, Fast Print Time, Low toner consumption, Economical, Easy Setup

Weakness: None at all

The HL-2140 is intended for light-duty use, personal or home office. It is not intended for use in large offices, where hundreds of pages are printed everyday. This printer is a laser printer that uses toner (graphite-colored powder) that is burned into the paper; it is not made to do photos, especially on photo papers. This Brother printer prints extremely fast and is relatively quiet. You can control many of your user preferences from the printer's preferences. The print qualities at 600 dpi and 1200 dpi is simply outstanding. Read the directions. Also, download the newest drivers from the Brother website. To get every bit of toner powder out of the cartridge, first remove the toner unit from the drum assembly. Second, find the little circular window on the right-side of the toner cartridge. Third, place a piece of black electrical tape over the clear window, cannot be clear tape. Fourth, re-install the toner cartridge into the drum assembly. Last, put the complete unit back into your printer. This is a great little printer.

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they at brother will take your money later

Strengths: printer quality

Weakness: software

It was everything perfect with the printer until today. I was printing and the quality of the prints where excellent but then the PC showed me a message: "toner life end" it was not possible that such a thing happend the print outs are perfect. It seems they want me to Buy a new toner when mine still have life.... cheap at the beginning but they at brother will take your money later.

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Great Little Printer

Strengths: Everything as advertised

Weakness: Need to replace the toner fairly soon

Got this printer to use outdoors during sporting events that I officiate. It performs great. The only drawback is the toner is comes with does not last very long.

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Great Little Brother Laser Printer

Strengths: Price after rebate that ends at end of year -Quality of print is great - 600 dpi standard or 1200 dpi if select it - Enclosed 250 page paper holder 2X as Fast as my old printer -- 23 pp per minute

Weakness: Noise from printing, cooling fan and clicks that it makes. Much more noise than my Minolta PagePro 1250W laser. - Toner Hi Yield is less than with most at only 2500 pages vs 6000 pages & drum less pp

Get this baby on sale now with the $20 off from Brother before 2008 ends ... too, a very fast rebate from Brother which was nice. --

Too, the tape trick found on the internet may make this even better on toner ... the printer has a laser system that measures toner and cuts the printer off and makes it unusable when the toner is getting low. So take the cartridge unit out of the printer and place on a newspaper - remove the toner cartridge from the drum - some toner will leak out so wash your hands if necessary. Place masking tape on each round window on each end. This trick may give you 25% more prints or more. --

Too if you get a drum message of it going bad then try resetting it per the instructions on the web in the user's guide. --

I put my Kill-A-Watt meter up to both my old and new printer and both use a lot of energy to print then go to a sleep mode. --

Kilowatt meter as measured 11-10-08:
Brother 2140:
Nothing happening: 3 watts
Fan on : 4 watts
450-925 W briefly while printing then back to 4 W with fan on
User Manual say: Brother Power Consumption: Printing: Average = 460 W & noise at 51 dB; Standby = Average 80 W 30 dB; Sleep = Average 5 W. Weight =12.8 lbs


Minolta PagePro1250W: --
Nothing happening: 5 watts
Fan on : 6 watts very briefly compared to Brother
420-722 W briefly while printing then back to 6 W with fan on
User Manual says: 840W or less; Noise Printing: 49 dB or less, Standby: 30 dB or less. --

So, both use a lot of energy to print as expected from a laser print but quickly go to a energy saving wattage. --

Oh, I almost forgot to say if you intend to refill the toner cartridge that comes with it and is good for 1000 pages, then you need to get a reset gear from EBay for it to work. Or, get a new toner cartridge and when it runs out use the reset gear ... some good instructions from some sellers on how to install it and how to position it. I think I will try a refill with a reset gear after my starter cartridge goes out while using the masking tape trick.

Good Luck,

John
San Antonio
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5-21-09 Update:

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Started printing many, many black spots on the paper after only 6 months of use. The very expensive drum roller had two rough spots on it and I cleaned as recommended with a Q-tip and it helped. But, I am disappointed in this mishap and will change rating from 5 to 2 Stars!!!!!

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Brother HL-2140 recommended

Strengths: Fast. Low per page cost. Toner save mode @ 300-dpi prints highly acceptable documents (to extend toner life)

Weakness: High electricity usage. Manual feed port doesn't have a tray to support the manual feed pages.

If you want a low cost per page, fast laser printer for basic printing needs, this fits the bill perfectly. The only drawback is the higher than average electricity usage. Given my 3 monitors, computer, and various other items in my home office, my battery backup cycles every time I turn the printer on and at various times during printer standby mode. It is rated around 4 amps average during print mode. The supply on the back states a max draw of 8.6 amps although I don't think it would ever hit that mark.

Other than that, the cost per page is fairly low if you go with the high yield toner TN360 (I think it's around 1.8 cents per page up to 12000 pages when you need to buy a new drum which also isn't too expensive). But still an arm & leg cheaper than running any typical inkjet printer. Overall, I am highly satisfied but docked it 1 star because of the high electric usage.

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HL-2140

Strengths: fast

Weakness: no

I like the printer and it quiet and fast, I have been using it for about 5 weeks and I am happy with it and I am highly recommend this printer.

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Excellent budget home laser!

Strengths: Lightning fast printer, high resolution vs similarly priced models, reasonable toner. Works PERFECTLY with a low-end D-Link print server, where many others did not. Power consumption is minimal.

Weakness: Significant "page curl" during printing, some configuration options cannot be set from the printer itself, and must be set from the driver (worked for me even thru a wireless print server).

This is a fantastic printer, and can be bought many places for less than $50. PPM speed is phenomenal, resolution is higher than any similarly priced printers, and it works with off-brand wireless print servers, putting it in a very small group.
Power consumption in "sleep mode" (as measured by a "kill-o-watt" meter), is negligible -- I have clocks that use more power! When I need to print something, it wakes right up, spits out the page, and goes back to sleep.
The driver support is also fantastic, you have control of almost every facet of the printer configuration -- the only drawback is it doesn't seem you have similar control from the panel.
Power-on was enough drain to trip my UPS unit temporarily -- apparently this is common amongst laser printers, however, and not unique to this unit.

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A steal if you can find it for less than $50. Buy it!

Strengths: Fast and even when on the economy/toner saver it looks better than most inkjet printers. It is small and very simple to set up. I highly recommend it. I wish I had bought two with rebates.

Weakness: I can't get the thing to network. It's probably my error but it's just not working. And the unit is rather loud but other than that it's great.

We just printed a big job of flyers for my son's band. We used neon colored paper and they looked great even on the economy setting. I hope the OEM cartridges are available and inexpensive for this because I really have enjoyed having this little gem. I'll be buying another one if it's available for $30 again.

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Brother HL-2140

Strengths: very cheap, fast, and quiet

Weakness: none

I got this printer at officemax for 50 dollars. I also like the fact that the paper tray is not sticking out. The printer is a lot quieter than the other laser printer that I have (samsung scx-4100).

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Brother HL-2140

Strengths: Easy to set up, Fast on the draw, Economical to use

Weakness: None that I know of

This being my second Brother Laser (also have the HL-2040 which I love)I purchased this for my home. Too many times you need just black print and using an ink jet was not cost effective. The laser is much faster also. The price point on this is what put me over the top. $49.99 less a mfg. rebate of $20 and $10 store incentive coupon made it way cheaper than buying a new toner. It is easy to set up and works great just as the 2040. I highly recommend this printer just for text as it will save you plenty in refills. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. I have only had this for a day but the 2040 for months and there have been no issues yet.

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Great Printer at Good Price

Strengths: Warms up fast, affordable, reliable.

Weakness: None at this moment.

I just bought this printer from office max yesterday and had it setup in 10 minutes. It warms up fast and the first page comes out pretty quickly. This printer is reliable and good for its price. I will definitely recommend it!

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Fast!!

Strengths: Fast, clean prints, internal paper tray

Weakness: reliability is a little iffy.

The first one of these I bought I had to return to the store and exchange, it printed 2 and a half pages and died halfway throught the third and would not turn on again.
That said, I returned and rebought and am very satisfied with the speed and clear quality of image from this printer. The install was simple, love the internal paper tray as I have little ones, who like to "steal" computer paper.
Despite my initial experience this printer seems to have a nice sturdy build quality and doesn't leave a big footprint.
I'm satisfied, but recommend an extended warranty just in case.

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Brother HL-2140 Laser Printer

Strengths: Fast Printer, Compact Size

Weakness: None so Far

I set this up with my Vista laptop and it works just fine. The speed of the printing is excellent and the quality is great. I have had no problems using this after a couple days of heavy use. I really like the compact design.

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Very capable machine

Strengths: Print quality and speed

Weakness: Replacement toner cost

This printer performs well and gives excellent print quality. Setup was easy. It has a small footprint and will fit on most desktops. The printer includes a starter toner cartridge that is rated at 1000 pages. Replacement toner can be expensive however.

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Great Printer!!!

Strengths: Cheap compare to other laser printers, fast printing, small form factor.

Weakness: Toner is kind of new and expense.

My 5 year printer just died, I need a printer for printer paper and report, no need for color printing. This one was on sale, and fit what I needed. It prints very fast compared to my old printer, and at a great price. The toner is kind of new, and is expense, but not by much. This is my first laser printer and I love it!!

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Good value product for its price

Strengths: Only $50 for me, and probably one of the least expensive laser printers out there. Easy to install and use, fast printouts, and great as a personal printer.

Weakness: USB cable not included which I guess is the standard. Semi-loud to warm up before the first printout. Not exactly great at printing envelops. Toner cartridge expensive.

I like this printer more than my first laser printer - Samsung 1710, and I can network this printer throughout the house as well. I ended up buying the USB cord at monoprice.com and ended up being a little more than $3 with shipping included, so no biggie :)

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Excellent value and quality

Strengths: Great value, fast at 23ppm, easy setup, high dpi at 2400 by 600 dpi

Weakness: Like all other laser printers, it has a "starter cartridge which only last 1000 pages

This is one of the few budget laser printers that i have been happy with. It outperforms all other printers in its price range in term of dpi, speed, and noise.

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Great Small Mono Laser Printer

Strengths: Price (only cost me about 70 from Staples), Small, Fast.

Weakness: Front individual sheet feed tray: the lever doesn't move smoothly to size the feeding paper, for example, envelopes. small inserts

In stead of buying 97 dollars cartridge replacement for old laser printer(HP), it was more economical to purchase this one which comes with a cartridge (but the cartridge is smaller (1/2) than other cartridges-) The cartridge itself yields about 1,500 (according to manufacturer) and costs about $35. Half size and capacity of my old one(which costs about $ 86-97 and yields 3500)

Only thing I'm not happy about (my scound small brother printer of this kind)is the individual feeder. The levers sizing the papers or envelopes don't slide smoothly. The printer detects errors (when individually feeding--if you don't feed it straight) little slow and confusing. I wish also the individual feeder was designed to stack up & hold some more paper on the tray (it takes only one page).
But the main tray compartment holds 250 pages.

Great for home and small office use if printing mainly documents (mono). Good value for the money!!!!!!

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Reply by member: natureday
Apr 21, 2008

This is a great printer, it is not loud and it prints really fast! The toner runs out pretty fast, but that is true with all printers.
The thing I mostly love about it is- the ink on the paper does NOT smear at all.
THe last printer I had the ink smeared like crazy.
Anna23@natureday.com

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Great Budget Mono (B&W) Laser Printer

Strengths: Small, quiet, prints fast-23 ppm, PRICE

Weakness: none

This is my first laster printer and I'm completely satisfied with it. It came with starter ink toner cartridge which last approximately 1,000 sheets of paper.

There is a slight noise from the printer when the machine is "awake" after in prints. But, once it goes to sleep/hibernate it is completely silent and the power light dims.

I mainly print word docs, emails, forms and it does all this perfectly! I couldn't ask for any better, especially at this price.

There is a version that is slightly more expensive that has wireless networking built-in. That feature does not really matter to me. I have this printer hooked up to my main PC at home which is always on. I have shared the printer on my network so that any PC, laptap connected to my network can print to this.

I highly recommend this laser printer for anyone looking for a small, B&W laser printer.

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Brother HL-2140

The Brother HL-2140 is a compact black and white laser printer designed to help maximize your desk or shelf space. The Brother HL-2140 features a fast 23ppm print speed that enables users to quickly produce documents, a high-quality resolution up to a whopping 2400x6400 for documents with sharp text & graphics, and a letter/legal paper tray that can hold up to a 250 sheets. Plus, the HL-2140...

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