- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Updates
- Comparison
- Best Printers
- Conclusion
- Discussions
Brother is a company that produces printers that closely fit the needs of a small business, whether you're working from home or in a small office. They focus on laser printers, which help you maximize your page yields, which is 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. It's a laser model with an incredibly high page yield and an excellently low cost-per-print. Its hard plastic build feels solid and sturdy, and its well-designed input and output trays have width sliders to adjust to different paper sizes. It's fully equipped with a flatbed scanner with high resolution and an automatic document feeder that can scan double-sided documents. It has great printing speed, and while the first page takes some time to come out, the subsequent pages are significantly faster. It offers many connectivity options, including Ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi, and it also supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service if you want to print without installing drivers. It's compatible with the Brother iPrint&Scan app, from where you can print nearly any file type from your mobile device, as well as check ink levels and view printer settings.
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's bad at printing photos. Colors look muted and inaccurate, and there's quite a bit of banding when printing green and blue. While it isn't recommended 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 printer for families we've tested is the Brother MFC-J995DW. This very 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 very 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 Brother HL-L2370DW is the best Brother laser printer for black-and-white documents that we’ve tested. This monochrome laser model feels very well-built, and its toner cartridge, drum unit, and paper jams are easy to access. It has a remarkably high page yield, so even if you frequently print many large documents, you shouldn't have to replace the toner too often, which helps to keep the cost-per-print exceptionally low. The first page takes somewhat longer to print, but the subsequent pages come out remarkably fast. Although it doesn't support Bluetooth, it has other connectivity options like Ethernet and Wi-Fi. It also supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. It's also compatible with the Brother iPrint&Scan app that lets you print, scan, and perform some maintenance tasks directly from your smartphone.
Unfortunately, since the drum unit isn't built in the cartridge, you have to buy it separately; this adds extra costs down the road. If you need to scan documents or want to digitize some old family photos, you may be disappointed at its lack of a scanner. Also, it's terrible at printing photos, but this isn't unexpected for a laser printer. Nonetheless, it's excellent if you often print black-only text documents and is among the best cheap 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 to 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.
Notable Mentions
- Brother HL-L2350DW: The Brother HL-L2350 is a fantastic alternative to the Brother HL-L2370DW if you want a flatbed and sheetfed scanner, but it has a slightly lower page yield. See our review
Recent Updates
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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, and they don't usually have Bluetooth support, which 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.
