The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a decent printer for both home office and student use. It has an impressive printing speed and a low cost-per-print even if you are completing large printing jobs. It also has a big input tray that can hold a good amount of paper, and it includes a display screen that can be raised to the user's preference. It has an excellent design which makes it easier to remove paper jams from the back. Unfortunately, this printer doesn't include a scanner and if you need to print photos, there's a lot of banding in the colors.
Our Verdict
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a sub-par family printer. When used to print photos, there's clear banding in the colors, and the quality of the image is poor. On the bright side, it yields many pages and has an excellent cost-per-print.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Low cost-per-print.
- Doesn't have a scanner.
- Banding and leakage when printing photos.
- No supports for external storage devices.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a satisfactory printer for home or small office use. It has a remarkable black and color page yield. It also has a great build quality, and its design makes it easy to remove paper jams from behind the printer. It also has a solid, plastic build.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Low cost-per-print.
- Doesn't have a scanner.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a reasonable printer for students. It's excellent for printing essays or long bodies of work. It has great connectivity and an outstanding mobile app. Additionally, its cost-per-print and print speed are both impressive.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Low cost-per-print.
- Doesn't have a scanner.
- No supports for external storage devices.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a great printer for black and white use. Although this printer can print in color, it's much more suited for black-only documents, as the cost-per-print remains low even if you print a lot. It also has an impressive printing speed.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Low cost-per-print.
- Doesn't have a scanner.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is an inadequate printer for printing photos. While the colors seem crisp and clear, there's a lot of banding throughout the entire photo. It also doesn't support 4" x 6" paper and cannot print on glossy paper.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Banding and leakage when printing photos.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
- Solid build quality.
- Fast print speed.
Performance Usages
Changelog
- Updated Sep 23, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Sep 09, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
- Updated Jun 30, 2022: We updated this printer to the new test bench, so we adjusted the review's text to match the new Color Accuracy score.
- Updated Apr 29, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
Check Price
Popular Printer Comparisons
The Brother HL-L3280CDW is a newer version of the Brother HL-L3270CDW Laser. They have identical features and perform similarly in print quality. The HL-L3280CDW prints slightly faster but doesn't yield as many color prints as the older HL-L3270CDW. The biggest difference is that the HL-L3270CDW requires more maintenance because its drum unit wears out much faster.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW Laser and the Brother MFC-L3770CDW Laser are two very similar printers. They both have outstanding build quality, print fast with a low cost-per-print, but neither is the best choice for photo printing. The main difference is that the HL-L3270CDW doesn't come with a scanner, while the MFC-L3770CDW does.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW Laser and the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw are very similar in their overall performance. The main differences are that the Brother has a higher black and color page yield, making it slightly more cost-effective over time. The Brother also has a better mobile companion app, but the HP has more connectivity options, as it supports USB thumb drives.
The Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw and the Brother HL-L3270CDW Laser are both color laser printers; however, the Canon is an all-in-one with a scanner, whereas the Brother is a print-only unit. The Canon has better page yields, so it requires less maintenance. Its toner cartridges are more expensive than the Brother's, but that's because they contain the drum, which means you won't need to spend extra to replace the drum separately like you do on the Brother. The Brother takes less time to warm but prints slightly slower than the Canon.
Test Results
The Brother L3270CDW has an impressive design. The body of the printer is mainly built with a plastic that gives it a hard and sturdy feel. Both the input and output tray are well-designed with manual length and width sliders that adjust to the paper's format. The cover can also be pulled down to give the user easy access in case there is a paper jam. Additionally, unlike the Brother HL-L2390DW, the power cord is detachable, making it easier to replace if ever it's damaged. Unfortunately, because this printer doesn't have a scanner, the output tray remains exposed and uncovered on the top of the printer.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW is a fairly compact printer that will easily fit on a desk. It's much shorter than the Brother MFC-L3770CDW because it's missing a scanner.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW has a good, easy to navigate touch-sensitive display screen. It has a quick response time and has good visibility whether you're using it seated or standing. It can be raised to your preference but doesn't include a left or right swivel. Unfortunately, the resolution of the screen isn't very sharp, and the background is grainy.
The Brother MFC-L3270CDW has an excellent cartridge system. The toner is separate from the drum unit, so you won't have to replace the drum when you replace the toner. However, once you need to replace a cartridge, it has to be replaced by a brand new Brother cartridge and not one that has already been used in another machine. According to the manufacturer, this is to ensure that Brother can monitor the machine's toner consumption and provide the best possible image quality. According to Brother, the drum unit is rated to last for 18000 prints.
This printer accepts third-party toner cartridges; however, using them may void your warranty.
The Brother MFC-L3270CDW doesn't include a scanner. If you need a scanner, check out the Brother MFC-L2750DW.
- Set of toner cartridges:
- 1 x TN223 Black toner cartridge/drum unit
- 1 x TN223 Cyan toner cartridge/drum unit
- 1 x TN223 Magenta toner cartridge/drum unit
- 1 x TN223 Yellow toner cartridge/drum unit
- Power cable
- Setup CD
- User guide
The Brother HL-L3270CDW's cost-per-print is amazing. Similar to the MFC-L3770CDW, if you print mainly in black, the cost rises slightly as you print over a certain number of pages, but the cost of printing in color rises significantly the more you print. The HL-L3270CDW is also eligible for Brother's Refresh Auto-fulfillment ink service, where the company will track your toner levels and auto-ship a replacement when necessary.
The printing speed on this printer is great. It takes longer to print the first page, but subsequent pages are much faster. The output tray can hold up to 150 sheets of paper. It can print color documents faster than black only. However, if you only print black-text documents, the monochrome Lexmark B2236dw has a much quicker printing speed.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW has an adjustable input tray that supports most standard paper formats, from letter to legal. However, it can't print large documents such as tabloid size or small photos.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW's color accuracy is mediocre. While most of the colors aren't too bad, the printer struggles to accurately print greens, blues, and grays accurately. It's fine if you're just printing some color-coded spreadsheets or adding a pop of color to a document; however, it isn't ideal if you work in the print industry where colors need to be exact.
If you want a laser printer with slightly better color accuracy, then check out the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw.
The Brother HL-L3270CDW has great connectivity. The only wireless feature that it doesn't include is Bluetooth support. That shouldn't be that much of an issue because the printer is NFC capable and supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. Unfortunately, the printer doesn't support external storage like a USB or SD card. If you need a printer that supports USB thumb drives, check out the HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw.
The Brother iPrint&Scan app is exceptional. It supports nearly every file type and can access the printer's settings to check on the printer's ink levels. It also supports NFC, so you can quickly connect your mobile phone to the printer.