BROTHER HL-3040CN COLOR TONER CARTRIDGES SET

Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer Review

Overview:

The Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer is not only an attractive addition to any office, but also a very affordable way to add network ready color print capabilities to a small business. The device’s low price point and versatile hardware make it a great choice for those who require a shared, low volume color LED printer.

Pros:

Aside from the reasonable price, the Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer brings plenty to the table. Its high quality print output, made possible by Brother’s LED technology and selectable up to 600 x 2400 dots per inch, place it very high in its class, though still in the sub photographic category.

Paper handling is fairly standard as well as straightforward. The Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer comes complete with Brother’s commonly seen 250 sheet standard paper tray and a built in single sheet bypass slot that allows special media types such as envelopes and transparencies to be loaded through the machine without first removing the current paper supply. When using this manual feed slot, the result is also a straight through paper path that prevents bending and creasing of any kind.

Though the Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer does not support WiFi on its own, it does come complete with a built in Ethernet card, allowing users to connect directly to a network or to a wireless network server. User friendly features, such as a top loading toner cartridge design, make setting up and managing the hardware fast and easy, while the device’s toner save mode is great for reducing overall cost per page.

The standard memory included with this printer, though limited, is more or less sufficient for most purposes. At 32 MBs, document printing should not suffer from any slowdown, though imagery printing is a whole different story. Luckily, if complex print projects are common for your workload, memory upgrades are accepted in the forms of 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, and even 512MB by was of a single 144 pin DIMM slot.

Maximum allowable monthly duty is a robust 25,000 pages, though Brother recommends putting the unit under far less stress; between 300 and 1,500 pages each month, which should still be plenty for small offices.

Cons:

Even for a bargain color LED printer, the Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer’s print speeds are disappointingly low. With both black and white and color output topping out at only 17 pages per minute, the device, unfortunately, lives up to its low price. The unit is also not without its share of small annoyances, such as its lack of a USB or Ethernet cable in box.

The common complains users have found with the Brother HL-3040CN Digital Color Printer are ones often seen, such as unreliability and paper jams. Brother does include a limited one year warranty with this hardware, but the device seems to be slightly quirkier than many color LED devices currently on the market, possibly due to the youngness of the technology. When the straight through paper path is not in use, the device also curls thin sheets of paper, resulting in a slightly less than professional look.