January 1, 2020

Some Current Printers, circa January 2020

I ended up ordering a Brother HL-L2370DWXL on 1-1-2020

My friend Alan once used an HP LaserJet P2015dn, but it died (the network became flakey). He is now using a Samsung Xpress M2835DW.

I would like to avoid a cheap plastic office store printer, but frankly anything that is affordable and most importantly works and works reliably is what I would like.

Here is a checklist of desirable features:

Most modern laser printers are 1200 dpi. My old laser jet 4 was 600 dpi.

HP LaserJet P2015dn

This is Alan's old printer. These are available for $800 via Amazon, but seem to be out of production. Refurbished units are available for $150. It is a 1200 dpi duplex printer.

Samsung Xpress M2835DW

This is what my friend Alan has now and he says "it just works". It can do duplex printing. The only negative is that whereas it originally sold for $150 or so, it now seems to be out of production and is available for $300.

HP Laserjet Pro M118dw

This unit sells for $95 currently. It brags about Wifi, but does have ethernet. It uses a 94A cartridge. I am skeptical of anything that says "Pro", especially if it is a printer that sells for $100. The genuine HP cartridge sells for $46 (half the price of the printer), but decently rated off-brand cartridges are available for $22 that claim to print 1000 pages. It apparently ships with an actual 94A cartridge rather than some lame starter cartridge.

Brother MFC-L2750DW XL

This sells for $330, but comes with two toner cartridges that together should yield 7500 pages. Probably all I would ever need. It also includes a copier/scanner. It does do ethernet. "Included are one Brother Genuine high-yield (TN-760) and one Brother Genuine super high-yield (TN-770) toner cartridge."

Brother HL-L2370DWXL

I ended up ordering one of these 1-1-2020

You can get this for $200. You give up the copier/scanner. Actually, you can get it for $99 if you don't want the second toner cartridge. "Included are one Brother Genuine high yield toner (TN 760) and one Brother Genuine super high yield toner (TN 770)." They claim this will give you 7500 pages. So this uses the same toner cartridge as the above. The resolution claims are peculiar. They say "Up to 2400 x 600 dpi", which I find odd. If you dig deep enough, you find a specification like: 

600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (2400 x 600 dpi) quality, 1200 x 1200 dpi
Maybe this is selectable via a menu? We will find out someday. The Windows driver can select from the following 3 resolution settings: 
- 300 dpi
- 600 dpi
- HQ 1200
We will see about all of this.

Brother does seem to offer linux support.

Be sure to enable "Continue" mode for the toner. (General Setup -> Replace Toner -> Continue). What this does is tell the printer to continue to print despite the warnings that print quality may not be up to "guaranteed print quality" specifications. You must do this in advance, once the warning is active, you cannot override the setting (which is odd).

Be sure and turn off deep sleep mode. (press the Back and Down buttons at EXACTLY the same time). Or perhaps this will do it: 

1. Go to General Setup then OK
2. Go to Ecology then OK
3. Go to Sleep Time then OK
4. While Sleep Time is displayed (should be showing a number in minutes) push the down arrow and then the back button at the same time. The Deep Sleep setting will then be visible
5. Turn Deep Sleep on/off by using the arrow keys.
6. OK to save Deep Sleep off"

Brother HL-L2350DWXL

One review says: 
Cheap Linux-compatible laser printer that does the job.
Setting this printer up on Linux is very easy.
I never needed a USB cable--just hit the WiFi button on the printer, hit the WPS button on your router, and it should connect,
but there is a way to connect manually on the tiny screen on the printer itself if this doesn't work.
Brother provides Linux drivers on their site, but these aren't even needed--
the printer works great in driverless mode.

This sells for $99 on Amazon and uses the TN 760 toner cartridge. It does NOT have ethernet. Note also that the TN-760 sells for $75 and the TN-770 sells for $110. This alone makes the 2370 with the two cartridges a better deal, and you get ethernet, so this printer is a non-starter for me. I don't know why you would buy this in lieu of the 2370 given they both have the same price and this does not have ethernet.

The fact that the following link recommends it for linux gives confidence that its brother Brothers would be well supported.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!