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Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer

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Pending
  • At a Glance
  • Prints text and simple graphics
  • Interfaces with Apple computers
  • Windows compatible

User Reviews for Brother HL-5140 Laser Printer

  • Reviewed by: Jonestoday

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: none

    Weaknesses: breaks down

    Overall Evaluation: 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

    Duration of ownership:

    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 Evaluation: 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

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: - Interfaces: both USB 2.0 & older IEEE parallel- Clear crisp printing of graphics & text- Fast

    Weaknesses: - A bit noisy- Paper curls lengthwise

    Overall Evaluation: 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

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Prints quickly

    Weaknesses: Clear design flaw on the feed.

    Overall Evaluation: 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

    Duration of ownership:

    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 Evaluation: 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.

What You Should Know about the HL-5140 Laser Printer

Monochrome Laser Printers Offer Reliability, Value, Variety to Business Users

A monochrome laser printer such as this one is a business basic. While color inkjet and color laser printers involve more complexity and invite higher print costs, monochrome laser printers are reliable, their toner is cheap, and they come in any size, speed, or price range you'd like. Plain-text printing is its forte; it can't manage anything beyond extremely simple graphics.

A monochrome laser prints by using a laser and rotating mirrors to beam an image indirectly onto a photoconducting drum; attracting toner to that image; and then melting the toner at high temperature to transfer the image to paper.

Read More »

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