Pros: Fast and easy installation; very speedy printing; print quality very good for text; high capacity toner cartridges available (compatible cartridges are reasonably priced).
Cons: Although Brother added a "straight through paper path" apparently for the purpose of dealing with criticisms of a previous model that envelopes and thicker media were crinkled or somewhat rolled, the straight through paper path does not solve the envelope problem. The crinkling of envelopes occurs because the intake feed roller presses the envelope too tightly, causing the envelope to billow as it passes, and the latter part of the envelope is unavoidably crinkled.
Conclusion: This is a great value for a user who does not need to print uncrinkled envelopes with this printer. This printer remains useful to me because I have another printer that handles envelopes well. Brother HL-5340D High Speed Laser Printer with Duplex
I have had other Brother laser printers, always finding them an excellent buy. The HD-5340D continues this trend with high speed printing, duplexing and excellent black/white graphics capabilities for high volume home or small business use. When these printers are available at special pricing, the 'bang-for-the-buck' is very high. You might be able to find higher quality printing or faster speeds, but for general production work this printer is a work horse and will be very hard to beat. You will not go wrong with the HD-5340D.
I have about a thousand pages through this machine now and it has done well. If you need a simple black and white printer that automatically printson both sides of the paper it is a great deal. Prints very fast on single sided and reasonably fast still on double sided printing. Sharpness is good and documents look nice. Software interface is simple to use but offers a lot of features. No intrusive software like HP which is a real pleasure. This is the second Brother printer I have in my office and I like them both.
2010 01 05 update: Still going strong! Everytime I look at this printer I am filled with joy for how well it does. Have made it through my first toner cartridge and ordered and OEM and an aftermarket toner cartridge both from amazon. The after market one works great too. I went to amazon to order HP ink today but instead I am ordering my third Brother priner today to replace the HP machine instead of buying more HP ink. I just love everything about the Brother pinters I own.
First off, at the current price (199), buy the Brother HL-5370DW Laser Printer with Wireless Networking and Duplex instead. It is the same printer at the same price with one added feature: wireless. When I bought my printer, it was on sale for 130. Anyway, this review should apply equally to the HL-5370DW.
Need I say the printer is great? I needed to print 600 pages the first time I used it, and it spit them out like bugs bunny with turrets. The duplex feature saved me a lot of paper!
Second, I don't think this is mentioned anywhere so I'll point out that the printer comes with a FULL TN620 toner and drum. This means you will get up to 3,000 pages before even buying your first toner!
Set up was a breeze. You don't even need to run the included CD. Just connect the printer, Microsoft's found hardware set up will quickly find the driver for you. run the set up and install!
Troubleshooting Advice #1: As another reviewer noted, however, using 3 hole pre-punched paper caused jam after jam until I figured out how to fix it: tape the paper guider thingees on the top of the printer (the two dangling pieces on top of the printer just above the roller over the output tray - sorry for the dearth of technical knowledge). I think its supposed to prevent paper curl, but all it does is cause paper jams! Unfortunately, it cannot be easily removed without breaking it off so I just lifted it up using tape (I just used the blue tape that came with the printer) and presto, no more paper jams! This is a nice alternative to simply not using prepunched paper as the other reviewer suggested. I'd rather leave some tape on my printer than have to manually punch holes in 500 sheets!
Troubleshooting Advice #2: Every time I started my computer 8 pages spit out of the printer with the error message 'USBCBIOS'. If anyone else has this problem, it is because you are using an outdated USB 1.0 printer cable. There is an easy fix: use a USB 2.0 printer cable. By the way, the only CON with this printer is that a USB cable is not included in the box. But like most people, I have a million of these things lying around anyway.
So, overall, saves time and money. Worth every penny!
The Printer documentation was very good; everything was included except the cables. The printer works great except when trying to print multiple pages on pre-punched paper in duplex mode. The first page or 2 worked OK but then the paper would become misaligned for the second side of the page. The fix is to not use pre-punched paper. On regular 20 lb paper it works for 100 pages in duplex mode.
However, we're happy with our new printer! Norm and Diane - Printer - Duplex - Home Office - Monochrome'
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