Brother HL-2240

The Brother HL-2240 is a compact black & white laser printer designed for small companies with print requirements of up to 2000 pages a month. It promises rapid prints, responsiveness, optimal quality and low per page costs. Does it deliver?

Hardware

This model’s hardware rating is penalised by the fact that it has reduced functionality and connectivity. However, if you’re happy with just a black & white printer that doesn’t include fax, copier or scanner, won’t print in colour and doesn’t do wi-fi or duplex or come with a screen, this model will suit you just fine. Compact (36.8 x 36 x 18.3 cm for 6.7 Kg), it will easily find a place on any desktop. Paper capacity is a standard 250 pages and the loader can also hold labels and envelopes. All operating systems are supported (Mac, Linux, Windows).
There’s just a single command on the top to allow you to restart prints in the case of error. It’s a shame that there's no button to stop prints started by mistake.

Another version of the same printer is available with duplex mode, the HL-2240D.

Speed

Its speeds are better than on other single-function laser printers we've tested. The Canon i-SENSYS LBP6000 for example, gives speeds of 19 pages per minute (ppm), the Samsung ML-1670 prints at 16 ppm. You have to move up to higher-end models to get faster speeds with machines such as the Dell 5230n which holds the speed record with 43 ppm.

Quality

The print quality is average. It will be perfectly okay for text documents and prints at 300, 600 (by default) and 1200 dpi. Our test graph is printed at 600 dpi, the default value. The characters lack finesse and the legibility and sharpness of the graph is only so-so. Nevertheless the different colour in the shading can still be made out, which is quite rare. Such nuances often disappear completely and are transformed into a homogenous shade.

Energy consumption & Noise levels

This printer doesn’t consume much: 0.5 Watts on standby and 350 Watts when printing are the lowest values we’ve recorded for lasers. It’s a bit noisy at 52 dB(A).

Cost per page

The toner supplied with the printer is only partially filled. You can expect it to give you half what you get with a standard refill, or around 700 pages. When replacing it, we advise you to go for high capacity cartridges, which, while they’re a bit more expensive in terms of initial layout, give you lower print costs in the long run. The cost per page with standard toner is 2.7 pence/page while the the XLs come in at 2.1 pence/page. This is the right side of average for lasers.


ISO lifespan: Standard

ISO lifespan: High capacity

Cartridge	Price	ISO lifespan	Cost per page
TN-2220 (black)	£54	2600	2.1 pence