Cameras
Camcorders
Cell Phones
Components
Desktops
HDTV
Home Theater
GPS
Laptops
Monitors
MP3 Players
Networking &
Printers
Storage
Print
Digg
Twitter
Facebook
More…
Photograph: Rick Rizner
Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer
- Spec Navigator
- Printer Type
- Core Components
- Media Handling
- Vendor Rated Speeds
- Platform Support
- Dimensions
- General Features
- Resolutions
- Warranty & Support
Media Handling
| Maximum paper size, height | 14 inches |
| Maximum paper size, width | 8.5 inches |
| Minimum paper size, height | 6 inches |
| Minimum paper size, width | 4 inches |
| Maximum sheet capacity with standard tray | 500 sheets |
| Media sizes accepted |
|
| Paper handling support |
|
| Standard input sheet capacity | 250 |
General Features
| Functions | Printer |
| Interface connection |
|
| Printer languages supported | HP PCL 6 |
Brother HL-5140
HL-5140 Laser Printer Review, by Paul Jasper October 26, 2004
The Brother HL-5140's compact footprint and low price ($200) make this model a good fit for the crowded workspaces and tight budgets of many small offices. If you need high-quality output produced at reasonable speeds, this Brother may be a perfect match.
Like most of the small-office units we've seen recently, the HL-5140 holds 250 sheets in its main paper tray. You can add a second 250-sheet paper drawer, but it costs about $140, nearly three-quarters of the price of the one-drawer printer. Legal-size paper has to run through the manual feeder--a hassle if you use this paper type a lot.
The bin on top of the printer can handle up to 150 pages of face-down output. A rear output tray folds down at the back to provide a straight path for thicker media, such as envelopes. Printing a lot of envelopes or transparencies can be inconvenient, though, because you have to feed them through the pull-down bypass tray one at a time.
In our subjective tests of print quality, the HL-5140 performed superbly. Even small text looked sharp, with closely spaced, clearly separated bold characters. Though we noticed a little banding in the narrow parallel lines of our line-art test, diagonals appeared crisp and solid. Our photo test showed a few dithering artifacts in textured areas, and we spotted some minor banding, but the photo print looked good overall.
We clocked the HL-5140's text printing speed at 12.8 pages per minute--about average--but its graphics printing speed of 7.9 ppm was very good for a small office printer. We connected the HL-5140 to our test PC using its USB 2.0 port.
When we reviewed the HL-5040 (this model's predecessor) last year, it failed to complete one of our standard printing tests due to insufficient memory (8MB). The HL-5140's stock configuration has doubled the the older version's memory to 16MB, and you can upgrade it to as much as 144MB if you expect to print very large documents.
A chart on the front page of the printed Quick Setup Guide serves as a table of contents, leading you through the different installation and usage options. The full User's Guide, included on the software CD-ROM in PDF format, is more detailed. This printer does not support an internal networking adapter, so if you want to share the HL-5140 with colleagues, you'll have to network it through Windows or buy an external printer server (Brother sells its own print servers, both wired and wireless, on its Web site, but some third-party servers cost less).
Upshot: The Brother HL-5140 distinguishes itself with crisp text and respectable graphics. For the price, it can't be beaten.
Paul Jasper
Show Less 
0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review
User Reviews
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
-
Reviewed by: Jonestoday
Strengths: none
Weaknesses: breaks down
Overall: This printer worked fine for one toner cartridge, then it died. The feed mechanism sounds like a garbage truck. It's a disposable printer, use for one toner cartridge then throw away.
-
Reviewed by: sdkid
Strengths: Fast, Cheap, Efficient
Weaknesses: Cost of replacement parts. The main drum (rated for 20,000 pages) costs almost as much as a new printer on sale---I bet they don't sell many drums.
Overall: This will be a short and sweet review, mostly because this is an awesome little printer. I purchased a 5040 (the previous model) for my home use almost 3 years ago. Because of the excellent performance of that unit, I purchased 25 (yes--25) of the 5140 printers to use in classrooms at a middle school. That was almost 2 years ago now, and we have not had ONE single failure of any 5140 printer. That is pretty impressive considering the usage endured by these machines in some of these classes. Additionally, I NEVER have problems with drivers (unlike the HP inkjets these replaced) causing errors. These printers JUST work, and I can say that not from the experience of ONE printer for several months, but from installing and maintaining 25 of these printers. I rarely even get reports of paper jams from teachers. Purchasing these is a no-brainer. Just Buy it!
-
Reviewed by: pschulz
Strengths: - Interfaces: both USB 2.0 & older IEEE parallel- Clear crisp printing of graphics & text- Fast
Weaknesses: - A bit noisy- Paper curls lengthwise
Overall: I really like this printer for both my older desktop Windows 98 system with an old parallel port AND my new laptop XP system with USB 2.0 port. I have both connected to the printer and can print from either PC. I looked at HP and Samsung but neither offered printers with backward compatibility to older systems. Print quality is good: crisp, both text and graphics. Only three things I noticed so far that I would change: 1. Envelopes are hit or miss whether they 'crumple' when being printed. Better quality envelopes do fine; cheap ones end up spindled-folded-or-mutilated [this last phrase for you oldtimers out there who remember the punch card era!] 2. Printer is noisier than my old Brother laser printer. 3. Paper does curl. I saw this in other reviews but didn't realize that the paper curls lengthwise. That is, upon exiting, the paper curls up vertically which I didn't expect. But the paper eventually lays flat. So far, I'm happy and recommend this printer for anyone who needs the versatility of a model that can hook up to even older PCs without sacrificing print quality.
-
Reviewed by: smeikle
Strengths: Prints quickly
Weaknesses: Clear design flaw on the feed.
Overall: I have never written a product review for anything, but I have had such a terrible experience with now FOUR of these printers that buyers should be warned.Based on on-line reviews and price constraints, I bought this model for my home and for my office. In the past year I have had the home model replaced twice for a broken feed. I repeatedly asked the people at Brother to upgrade at my own cost, and they refused -- they would only replace this model. Well, when the third printer broke last month, I brought my office model home (I'm on sabbatical this year) and the office printer broke down today! Not only am I now missing a deadline -- I have spent days waiting for replacement printers and hours on the phone with very unhelpful people at Brother. I've decided just to give up and buy a better-designed (and more expensive)printer.
-
Reviewed by: hploss
Strengths: 20# light, quick printer, lots of memory, low cost toner and drums.
Weaknesses: No LED screen, a bit wider than my older printer, noisy when it prints.
Overall: My new computer has no Parallel port and when I used a Parallel/USB adapter my old Okidata 10p/m printer failed after 6 years of good use. This is a great replacement between the Brother 2040 and 5240. I have it set up as a network printer on the USB cable, so my Wife and I can use each others printers remotely. USB WIFI print servers are cheap if you want to print with your Notebook computers at Home. It has a Parallel port, if you are using DOS or are not into Plug and Play Technology.
Shop for the Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer
Sorry, the product you requested isn't currently available from any of our sellers.
Printers similar to the Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer
We recommend these Printers for their similarities to the Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer in features, specs, ratings, and user interest.
- Before you buy
- How to Buy a Printer
People who looked at the Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer also looked at:
Start New Topic Don't see the answer to your question? Ask it here!
Daily Deals
Special Offers for PC World Users
-
Lexmark Z45SE Color Jetprinter for $12 Amazon is selling the Lexmark Z45SE Color Jetprinter for only $12.
Featured APC Accessories
-
APC Back-UPS ES Safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility & data lines.
-
APC Smart-UPS Loaded with cutting-edge features, unique battery life predictor, unbeatable on-line efficiencies and software agents allowing remote UPS monitoring. Get 10% off your entire kart purchase!
