Brother HL-5100 Toner Cartridges

Brother HL-5100 Printer Review

The Brother HL-5100 is a monochrome laser printer with fast print speeds and low printer toner costs that should appeal to small and medium office environments. Print speeds clock in at up to 21 pages per minute for letter size prints and up to 20 pages per minute for A4 size prints, making it one of the fastest printers in its price range.

The printer is relatively compact, measuring 9.9 inches by 15 inches by 15.1 inches (HWD) and weighs around 26 pounds. The compact design and light weight of the machine makes it a good choice for smaller spaces. The standard model includes a manual feed tray and the upgraded models include a separate multi-purpose tray that can hold up to 50 sheets of bond paper, transparencies, envelopes, labels, and more.

Brother HL-5100 toner is fairly inexpensive for its class, and replacing the toners is simple. Users can simply open the front panel and pull the Brother HL-5100 toner out of the front of the unit. The standard Brother HL-5100 toner cartridges have a capacity of 3,500 pages, but the high-yield Brother HL-5100 toner cartridges have a capacity of 6,700 pages, making them a much better value in the long run. Print quality is very sharp, especially for text.

IT Reviews gave the model a positive review, and liked the inclusion of duplex printing and networking as options. They also liked the fact that the printer is cross-platform; supporting Windows, Mac and Linux machines, and they praised its affordable price.

Overall, the Brother HL-5100 is a solid choice for a small or medium office environment that needs mainly sharp text printing and doesn't mind the lack of color. Lack of a multi-purpose tray may be an issue for some with the base model, but the affordable price of all models makes it easy to choose the one that best suits the buyer.