Brother HL4050CDN Toner Review

For some years the three titans within the printer arena have been Epson, Canon and also Hewlett Packard (along with a certain amount of opposition from Xerox and Lexmark) but lately Brother has set in motion a concerted effort to confront the big boys across the range in both dedicated printers and all-in-one devices.

The most recent 4000 series of laser printers is targeted straight at the small to medium size business market, which always prizes rapid delivery across networked systems. The HL-4050CDN's big sibling, the HL-4070CDW, provides the exclusive feature of actually being the sole wireless network colour laser printer in the marketplace, but if you don't wish to pay out more for the wireless ability, then the HL-4050CDN has all you need for any demanding office environment.

This is a very solid piece of equipment; at approximately 29kg you're going to require a friend to help you transport it in place if you wouldn't like to chance back problems. Once in position, getting it ready from the box is relatively simple. When paper is fed to the paper tray, the software is installed and the connection with the PC is complete, you're all set to go.

The installed printer driver is customized toward your connection, which may be by way of USB, parallel interface cable (and we don't see many of those in recent times!) or perhaps network interface cable. When ready to go (the unit is likewise Mac-friendly), your printing choices are taken care of from the LCD display at the adjustable control panel at the top and also the pleasingly substantial control buttons under it.

This printer is great for presentations, booklets as well as reports, because double-sided output is available as standard. Utilizing a 300MHz processor with 64MB memory (expandable to 576MB) along with up to 2,400 x 600dpi print resolution, you can create as much as 250 pages or double that if you buy a further optionally available tray. Additionally, there is another multi-purpose tray at the front that may be manually fed as much as 50 sheets. The front cover goes down to reveal the drum unit, that is pulled forward and the four Brother HL4050CDN toner cartridges (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) may be slotted in to position.

In terms of speed, you will be contemplating as much as 20ppm for both black and white as well as colour pages which, along with the duplex functionality, is without a doubt exactly why you may be having to pay a little bit more as compared to comparable models from Brother's competitors. Not only is it PictBridge enabled but you may also print directly from a USB flash drive, therefore dispensing with the need for a Computer completely; very helpful if you are hurrying to get that presentation to the boss prior to the deadline.

A rapid, solid workhouse of a printer with USB flash drive, network abilities as well as duplex as standard, hence being ideal for multi-page and multi-faceted presentations and documents.

Brother toner cartridges are available here.

Theodore Beach is a member of the Cartridge Concept team which specialises in printer cartridges.