I’m in the middle of a big book-length research project. I’ve got to print out tens of thousands of online article pages to read (I just can’t read on screen all day!). And I’m stuck with a Canon F-50 inkjet printer that’s giving me all sorts of wierd errors. What’s a guy to do?
The answer: ditch the inkjet concept. Go Laser. Take the plunge.
No need to fear. Gone are the days of expensive laser printers. Brother has released a phenomenal laser printer in the HL-2040 for a mere $100. I ordered mine at NewEgg.com. It arrived the next day. Now I’m in print heaven.
Boy do I wish I had made the switch years earlier. With my old inkjet printers, I was constantly fighting the “replace cartridge” error messages while simultaneously trying to remember to print in grayscale so as to preserve the color ink when I didn’t need it. But you know what? It turned out that in my case, the color thing was just a marketing gimmick. I rarely needed color and when I did need color, I needed top of the line quality, so I just ran down to Kinkos or something.
95% of the time I just need good old black and white printing. I read lots and lots of articles. Probably 3 or so 20 page articles per day. That’s 60 pages per day, or 1800 pages per month. I was replacing my inkjet cartridges nonstop.
That’s when it occured to me that I had allowed myself to get scammed. I didn’t really need a color printer after all. I had been conned by the marketers. So this time I struck back. I went laser.
Much to my surprise, the Brother HL-2040 is a fast, clean laser printer. I’ve got it hooked up to an old laptop that shares the printer over the wireless home network. Now, when I print a 20 page document from downstairs, it’s done by the time I get upstairs a minute later. Seriously. No more long warm-up periods. No more kicking and grinding and stalling. This thing is smooth and efficient and finally I know that I have the perfect machine for my purposes.
In perusing other online reviews of the Brother HL-2040, I noticed a common complaint about page curl. But it’s really not a big deal. Trust me. Nothing that gravity can’t take care of in a few days. I wouldn’t have even noticed it had I not read about it in other reviews. I was a bit worried about these various complaints and thought I was taking a risk when I bought the printer…but in reality, they are nothing but the gripes of people who feel obligated to find at least 1 negative thing to say in their review.
Ok. So so far, the printer has been phenomenal. Obviously, I haven’t been able to put it through an endurance test, so who knows, it could break down after 10,000 pages or so (six months in my case). But based on what I’ve seen, the Brother HL-2040 works brilliantly (even after I accidentally dropped it about 1ft when trying to get it out of its packaging!!).
For those who need faxing, copying or color printing, this Brother HL-2040 printer is not for you (unless you use it as a compliment to another three-in-one system). But for those working on academic research, a dissertation, a book, legal research etc. the Brother HL-2040 comes highly recommended. Just think about only having to change your print cartridge once every 2500 pages! And the price is right.
I know that printers are probably the least intereseting tech gadget that you could imagine (especially the black and white variety), but this just may be the most useful gadget I’ve purchased in a long, long time. Just right.
Not only did I Want One! , but I got one, and you should too.
Printer Costs
Brother HL-2040 Printer: $105 ($85 after mail in rebate)
Replacement Cartridge TN350: $37
Replacement Drum DR-350: $75
[tags]brother printer,laser printers,brother hl-2040,cheap laser printer[/tags]