Computing Center

Computing Center

New Mono Lasers Deliver Prints Quickly

With falling prices, monochrome laser printers are becoming increasingly affordable for homes and small offices.

Danny Allen

Brother's HL-5250DN is fast, makes high-quality prints, has a duplexer for double-sided printing, and supports ethernet networking.

If your regular printing tasks entail mostly text documents or charts and images not requiring color, monochrome laser printers are the way to go. Though such models have been ubiquitous in the business world for years, dropping prices have made them more feasible for home and small-office use.

Beyond their output speed and text quality advantages over inkjet printers, monochrome laser models are also usually cheaper to maintain over time. Initially you may pay more for a black laser toner cartridge than for a set of inkjet cartridges, but the laser cartridge will yield far more pages, helping to reduce your overall printing cost per page.

Four new printers achieved a place in this month's chart, and we noticed that for the most part new units are increasingly focused on delivering strong overall value. For instance, our Best Buy, Brother's HL-5250DN, produces great-quality prints at speeds competitive with pricier models. It also includes a built-in duplexer and an ethernet networking port, and costs just $250. Furthermore, while a 250-sheet input capacity is typically standard for this printer class (without optional trays), the HL-5250DN can manage 300 sheets thanks to a manual foldout tray on its front; this tray could hold 50 sheets of letterhead paper, for instance. You can also attach up to two optional 250-sheet paper trays to the printer's underside, but they cost $200 each.

By contrast, Dell's Laser Printer 1710n, in fifth place, has an optional 550-sheet drawer costing just $100. Lexmark's E240n, with better text quality, ranks fourth and is otherwise very similar to the Dell, but Lexmark prices its 550-sheet drawer option at $200. (So a word to the wise: If you think you may need to do high-volume printing, check out all the available options--and their cost--before you buy your new printer.)

In the second spot is our most affordable model, Brother's HL-2040. Its $120 price tag somewhat makes up for what it lacks in quality. We also tested Oki Printing Solutions' $229 B4250. Despite its retro look and its lack of a network port, it offers a solid enough mix of text quality, speed, and economy to earn a rank of third this month.