Brother claims the HL-L2350DW can print at up to 32 pages per minute, 5 pages per minute faster than the machine it replaces. It wasn’t quite that fast for us, but it still seemed speedy enough for just about any home or home-office use we could imagine. We clocked it at 25 pages per minute while printing single-sided PDFs and 12 pages per minute while using duplexing—faster than our color top pick, the HP M255dw, in both cases.
However, you may have problems getting the printer to complete Cloud Print registration; we certainly did. For us, the solution was to access the printer’s Web control panel, navigate to the Networking tab, and disable IPv6. With that done, the printer was able to get on Cloud Print right away and worked flawlessly for the remainder of our testing. It’s a mystery why Brother ships the HL-L2350DW with this setting enabled, considering that it’s a known fact that Cloud Print doesn’t work with IPv6. Because simply getting a job to print can be frustrating, we also tested other ways to interact wirelessly with these machines.
If youdon’tneed them, you can often find an identical or similar model for less from the same manufacturer, minus only the PCL or PostScript support. “Duty cycle” is a specification for the monthly page count a printer is rated for. Some printers don’t offer one, which is not an issue if you don’t print much. If you print enough to wonder if you might overtax the printer, however, don’t buy one that doesn’t offer the spec. Almost any printer will include a USB Type-B connector for a direct wired connection to a single PC. And even if that’s the only connector, Windows will let you share the printer on a network.
The L2350DW reliably maintained a connection throughout testing—even several rooms away and a floor below our router. You can operate this printer over USB if you prefer, but in that case you have to supply your own cable. If you want an Ethernet port for wired Internet, you can upgrade to the otherwise nearly identical epson workforce HL-L2370DW. A basic inkjet can cost as little as $40, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a laser at that price. This gives the MFC-805DW a slim appearance that lacks the elegance of a large color touchscreen, although the physical buttons are probably more reliable than the virtual buttons on many touchscreens.
(In this situation, other printers would try, fail, and jam.) When we put exactly 250 pages in, it printed normally; same with just a single sheet in the tray. If you ever do run into a jam, however, the printer’s back has a convenient access hatch for you to remove it. If you have a home office or run a home brother hl l2395dw business, you may be more conscious of printer speed than those who don’t. Our laser picks can pump out as many as 27 pages per minute; the fastest inkjets we’ve tested maxed out at 13 pages per minute. We think laser printers are best for people who need to print a lot, such as small-business owners.