Brother HL-1440 Laser Printer
Average Customer Review:
Electronics
list price: $279.99 -- our price: $139.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

If you're looking for laser quality without the traditional laser price, the Brother HL-1440 may be the ideal choice. This high-quality black-and-white printer handles jobs at an impressively speedy 15 pages per minute. It can also print professional-looking documents at 1,200 x 600 dpi resolution -- all for a reasonable price.

Setup with the HL-1440 is simple and straightforward, with connections for both parallel port and USB. It comes with a standard 250-sheet paper tray and supports manual duplexing. A manual paper feed is handy for inserting unusually thick papers. The drivers utilize economical power and toner-saving modes, and the unique Shockwave-based Print Management System! (software) combines straightforward operation with an exciting interface.

Weighing about 17 pounds, this desktop printer has a footprint of 17 by 15 inches and supports TN-430, TN-460, and DR-400 toner cartridges. The standard 2 MB of memory is easily upgraded to 34 MB. Optional networking is supported, and a second optional paper tray is easy to install. Both PC and Mac compatible, the HL-1440 comes backed with a one-year warranty on parts and service.

What's in the Box
Laser printer, universal 250-sheet adjustable paper cassette, drum unit assembly with toner cartridge, instructions, driver CD-ROM, AC power cord; printer cable not included ... Read more

Features

• Up to 15 pages per minute print speed
• True 1,200 x 600 dpi resolution
• 2MB standard memory, expandable to 34MB
• Universal 250-sheet adjustable paper cassette
• Parallel and USB ports; PC and Mac compatible

Reviews (123)

I'm a new loyal customer to Brother
*** I am editing this previous review due to the fact this printer has become complete junk within two years. To confirm what everyone else is saying, this printer has a very limited shelf-life and prints grey pages after a certain period of time. The toner cartridge is still half-full, and cleaning the drum unit has no effect. In essence, this is not a product you should be spending your hard-earned money on.

To reaffirm this opinion, please look at the other Amazon reviews and pay attention to who has posted a review after six months of use. While I have not contacted Brother's Technical Support, I don't feel this would be useful anyway since everyone else is affirming they are no help at all. Please look elsewhere and avoid the modest reviews for this printer because it deserves nothing but harsh criticism.

(My old review is below:)

****

After my new archaic (and plain pathetic) HP inkjet printers died, I knew I had to move on to laser. This is my first laser printer and I can proudly say I made a wise choice with this purchase. Everything about this product is amazing!

The HL-1440 model and the Samsung ML1210 are probably the two most popular newly-released models, after all the research I've done. I suggest checking out reviews from zdnet.com, pcworld.com, and cnet.com if you're choosing between these two models. I saw both at CompUSA but the Brother to me had a more appealing design and sharper, crisper pictures and texts at low fonts. I definitely suggest test printing out a local retailer before committing to any model.

As for specifics, the Brother model was EXTREMELY easy to install and setup. However (and this is becoming more commonplace with the computer stuff I buy), there were no cords!
The AC adapter was there, but no parallel cable or USB cable to connect to the PC. I wished I could have been saved the hassle of going out and buying a USB cable myself.

The specs say that the printer is guaranteed to work with Windows 2000, and then when you open up the software CD inside, it says "final drivers for Windows 2000 are available at brother.com" so I was really uncertain if this would work well for my home setup. Fortunately, the printer works absolutely perfectly under Windows 2000 with the provided drivers so I didn't have to go to the manufacturer website.

One caveat that may not be apparent in pictures (which is why I recommend checking the printer out at a store before you buy). Unlike the Samsung ML-1210, the Brother printer has its own tray that handles up to 250 sheets. However, the tray is oversized and sticks out from the back of the printer! Hence, the tray is so big that dust and sunlight can get in from behind to sneak into the paper supply and possibly fade or diminish the paper quality through time. I've solved this by taping a sheet of plastic over the opening, but I think customers should know about this anyway, especially considering the pictures you find on the net won't reveal this design flaw.

But in terms of raw performance, I'm more than pleased with the product. Various test prints show that resolution is indeed super sharp at 1200dpi, and it spits out sheets at 15 ppm! There is no manual included with the printer; other than a simple quick installation guide, all of the documentation and in-depth installation procedures are included on a CD-ROM that includes drivers for all versions of Windows and the Mac!

..., as for another very minute design flaw, the bottom of the printer came a little warped, because I can slightly rock the printer from side to side (it's extremely minor and won't affect printing at all). Just something I figured people might want to know.

Good value, but some issues for Mac users
I've had the printer for 2 months now and the printer has performed flawlessly and fast. No paper jams. In sleep mode it's completely silent. For Mac users, features like N-up printing, watermarking, and print preview are not available because of the plain vanilla printer driver. I have an iMac, and some apps like Internet Explorer will have print preview available, but AppleWorks will not. It's a good thing print cost per page is cheap with laser printers (my other printer is the Epson 880i). The print quality is very sharp at 600 dpi and super crisp at 1200x600dpi. I plan to increase the memory to 34MB because printing scanned 8.5x11 documents (like a 1040 tax form) will force the printer to print at 300dpi, unless it has at least 10 MB of RAM then it could print at higher resolutions. But even so, the 300 dpi output (with gray scale active) was far better (i.e. sharper) than what you'd get with commercial copy machines. If you like to print Acrobat PDF documents be warned that text will look jagged, even at the highest resolution; I guess this is why Postscript compatible printers are higher-priced.

Beats All Other Printers in this Class
I selected this printer over the Samsung ML-1430 and the Hewlett Packard LaserJet 1000. After reviewing all three online and then "live" at an office supply store, I ordered the Brother HL-1440. While the print quality may be similar for all three printers, the Brother HL-1440's build quality, easy memory upgrade path, and cheap consummables made it the clear front runner. Further distinguishing this machine is its superb handling of thicker media. It produces excellent results on cardstock, using a convenient manual feed slot on the front of the machine. Note also that the paper handling of the Brother is, in general, more robust than its Samsung and HP counterparts. The Samsung uses the top-loaded, ink-jet style paper feed system that tends to have less precise alignment. The HP uses a non-removable paper tray that is flimsy at best. The Brother, on the otherhand, uses a standard removable paper tray that is durable and handles envelopes and legal-sized paper just as easily as letter-sized. (And don't discount the handy manual feed for the single envelope.)

Out of the box, USB setup of this unit on a Windows XP Home machine was a snap. The 1440 comes with a fully illustrated easy setup guide that will have you up and running in no time. All XP drivers are available on the disks that are shipping with these machines at the time of this review.

One last note: Don't forget to order a USB (or parallel) cable with your printer! ... Read more

Asin: B00005MEP6
Subjects:  1. Laser Printer (Printers, Printing)    2. Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple   

Viking BR127016 16MB Non-Parity 70ns SIMM for Brother Products
Average Customer Review:
Electronics
list price: $23.99 -- our price: $16.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Features

• Specifically designed and engineered for Brother printers
• Enables faster loading, faster graphics rendering, and less computer errors
• High quality components guarantee flawless operation, even under the harshest conditions
• More powerful--allows you to print more complicated graphics
• Installation is easy with Viking's comprehensive install guide or toll free tech support

Reviews (1)

Absolutely needed to print 600x1200 dpi
If you want a highly precised print, you need at least 10Mb for Brother 1440 HL (standard is 2Mb). An addition of 16Mb is the minimum, otherwise we have to be happy with 600x600. I have used this additional memory for more than 1 month, and it works great (well, so far) ! ... Read more

Asin: B00005B3ZV
Sales Rank: 7,139