Brother HL 2700 Printer, An Overview

The Brother HL 2700 printer is a network ready, fast, color laser for under $1,000. It compares very well with other major competitors such as the Samsung CLP-500 and Lexmark C510. Brother has designed a printer for small businesses that provides the color capability most need, but recognizes that most businesses prefer an excellent monochrome printer with capabilities for the odd color project instead of an expensive dedicated color laser printer. This model does not come with some of the extras consumers are getting used to, like an automatic duplexer, but it is a fast and solid printer, with the Brother HL 2700 toner providing results that will more than satisfy most small offices.

The printer comes in a standard cream, boxlike design. It is 15.2 inches by 18.9 inches by 16.5 inches deep. This is your average size for a color laser printer. The control panel is on the left side, right next to the 250 pages sheet tray. This tray comes with a plastic extender with a paper stopper to cage in legal size paper. A great feature you will find useful.

The maintenance of this unit is hassle free with a two inch plastic tab that opens the printer’s front cover to reveal the four toner cartridges. The cartridges come in cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The mechanism that slides the toners in and out is very well designed and easy to operate. The toners come preinstalled with the regular starter packages that will last for up to 3,000 pages. It comes with a 10/100 Base T Ethernet port and a high speed USB connection.

The software included is very easy to use and comes with its own page at Brothers’ website that provides help and troubleshooting guides. The software is compatible with Windows and Apple products throughout the range of operating systems.

The speed of this device is set at 18.5 pages per minute in monochrome and 6.9 pages per minute in color. It is not the fastest monochrome printer but competes well in this class.  It is only surpassed by the Lexmark C510, however, it is the fastest color laser printer, beating both the Lexmark and the Samsung.

Extra options to consider when buying this printer are the DX-2700 model with an integrated duplex unit for $999. You can also invest in extra tools to create your personal fonts, although with the high quality image printing of this printer will not probably not need it.

In a nutshell, this is a great option for a small office looking for a networking capable printer that is fast and provides consistently excellent printing quality. The image quality, speed, flexibility and networking capabilities make this a great buy for the price. It is also easily expandable if you require a larger RAM capacity.

The good features about the Brother HL 2700 printer are its fast speed in black and white, its low price and the fact that it can easily be upgraded. The bad is that it has a low storage capacity at only 250 pages, although to be honest this will be more than adequate for most users. The color graphics, although very fast, could be a little better, although if you are looking for top quality color printing you will need to spend a little more.

Besides paper, Brother HL 2700 toner will be the most used item for this printer.  Fortunately, the clarity and sharpness offered by Brother toner means little to no reprints and finding replacement toner online can be a real bargain.