- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Updates
- Comparison
- Best Printers
- Conclusion
- Discussions
Brother is a company that produces printers that closely fit the needs of small businesses, whether working from home or in a small office. They focus on laser printers, which help you maximize your page yields and are great if you're printing out forms. They also have a couple of inkjet printers available, so it's easy to add a splash of color to graphs. Overall, they maintain quick print speeds so that you can get your report out the door as quickly as possible.
Updates
- 11/09/2020 Brother HL-L2350DW reviewed
- 07/13/2020 Brother MFC-J497DW reviewed
- 06/26/2020 Brother HL-L3270CDW Laser reviewed
- 06/22/2020 Brother HL-L2390DW reviewed
- 06/19/2020 Brother MFC-L2710DW reviewed
Best Brother Printers
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Best Brother Printer For Home/Small Office
Type All in OneTechnology LaserWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Brother all-in-one printer for small or home offices we've tested is the Brother MFC-L3770CDW Laser. This laser model yields an incredible amount of pages at an excellently low cost-per-print. It's made with hard plastic and feels solid and sturdy, with well-designed input and output trays that have width sliders for different paper formats. It has a flatbed scanner with a high scan resolution and a duplex-scanning automatic document feeder. It prints at a great speed overall, and although it takes a while to warm up and print the first page, subsequent pages are much faster. There are many connectivity options, like an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi. It also supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, meaning you can print without installing drivers. It's compatible with the Brother iPrint&Scan app, which lets you print the most common printable file types and check toner levels.
Unfortunately, while it has great connectivity options, it doesn't support Bluetooth printing or printing from a USB thumb drive. Also, like most laser printers, it isn't good at printing photos. Colors look muted and inaccurate, and there's quite a bit of banding when printing green and blue. While we don't recommend it for those working in print media or graphic design, it should be good enough to print color-coded graphs for a report. Nonetheless, this is an excellent printer for offices, and it's one of the best wireless printers we've tested.
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Best Brother Printer For Family Use
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Brother all-in-one printer for families we've tested is the Brother MFC-J995DW. This well-built printer provides easy access to ink cartridges, and it has a high-resolution flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder. Its incredible cartridge system yields a large number of pages for both black and color ink. There are also two higher-yield cartridge sizes available that should hold even more ink and last you longer, though we haven't tested them. This helps keep the cost-per-print remarkably low for black-only prints, color documents, and photos. Pictures print out quickly, and images look detailed, although there's a bit of banding in some colors and gray areas. While the color accuracy isn't good enough for professional use, it should be okay for casual photo printing.
Unfortunately, it's slow at printing, with black documents taking just as long as color documents. Also, there's no Bluetooth printing support, and while it should be compatible with Mopria Print Service, we couldn't print or scan using the app. On the bright side, it has a good range of other connectivity options, including wireless and wired, and there's also the Brother iPrint&Scan app from where you can print, scan, and copy. All in all, this is an excellent printer for family use, and it's among the best all-in-one printers we've tested.
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Best Brother Printer For Black & White Printing
Type Printer OnlyTechnology LaserWireless YesColor NoSuperTankNoThe best Brother laser printer for black and white printing that we've tested is the Brother HL-L2370DW. It's a simple, easy-to-use printer-only unit that feels very well-built and gives easy access to the toner cartridge and potential paper jams. It yields a superb number of black pages before the toner needs refilling, and the cost-per-print is remarkably low. Also, the printing speed for black text documents is incredible. Although it doesn't support Bluetooth, the connectivity options are great, like an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi, Apple AirPrint, and Mopria Print Service. The Brother iPrint&Scan companion app is fantastic and lets you print all the most common printable file types, check the toner level, and order new toner online.
Unfortunately, because it lacks a scanner, you won't be able to digitize old photos or scan and fax reports, so if you need to scan and want a printer with similar performance, check out the Brother MFC-L2750DW. Being a monochrome laser printer, it's terrible for printing photos, and you can't print on glossy photo paper. Also, because the drum unit is separate from the toner, it costs extra to replace it. That said, it's amazing for black-and-white printing, and it's also among the best laser printers we've tested.
Compared to other brands
- Can yield a high amount of pages. Both their laser and inkjet printers tend to yield many pages before you need to replace their ink or toner cartridges, which is great if you're constantly printing off several pages at a time.
- Low cost-per-print. Although their cartridges can cost a little more to replace, you have to do it less often, which results in a very affordable cost-per-print.
- Quick print speed. Most Brother printers can print black-only text documents very quickly.
- Sturdy and well-built. Brother generally makes well-built printers that feel sturdy and have good access to their ink tanks or cartridges.
- No Bluetooth support. While they have excellent wireless connectivity, and some even have NFC capabilities, none of the Brother printers that we've tested support Bluetooth, which is slightly disappointing.
- Not really for printing photos. Most of Brother's printers are monochrome, so they only have a black ink or toner cartridge. Some printers can't even print on glossy photo paper.
Brother makes well-built printers with a straightforward design. They mostly focus on laser printers suited for office use, so you can expect that their products have a quick print speed and high page yields. They also make monochrome printers better suited for people who primarily need to print off documents rather than scan multiple pages at a time. That said, they also make a couple of color inkjet printers, which are great if you want to add a splash of color to your quarterly report.
Recent Updates
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Jul 21, 2021: Verified accuracy and availability of picks, and updated text for clarity.
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Apr 22, 2021: Minor changes for text clarity and accuracy.
Conclusion
Brother is a well-known brand that offers practical and efficient business solutions in the form of their printers. They tend to produce sturdy and well-built printers with high page yields at an affordable cost, and their ink or toner cartridges tend to need replacing less. However, their ink or toner cartridges tend to be a bit more expensive than their competitors. Their printers also don't usually have Bluetooth support; this can be a little disappointing if you have multiple people sharing a printer.
For other options, check our recommendations for the best printers for small businesses, the best home printers, and the best black and white printers.