Brother HL-2150N

Full Review

Network connectivity, higher printing speeds and print quality come at a higher asking price – but we find the benefits justify the cost, thus the Brother HL-2150N comes in at third spot in our Top 5 charts. It has a 1200dpi print resolution (the Xerox Phaser 3117 is 600dpi) and thanks to a 16MB buffer, the highest amongst our Top 5 models, it has handle larger print jobs without pausing intermittently. Brother provides drivers for Mac and Linux platforms along with of course, Windows, letting users (or companies) on non Windows platform deploy the company’s printers with ease. It has a 250 sheet input tray and the output tray holds 100 sheets. There’s no auto duplexer, but the driver has an option for you to do it manually. Print quality was very good in our tests. The fonts, at sizes as small as point size 2, were clear with sharp edges and a solid ink fill without visible gaps in print. Even in draft quality, the print quality was overall good when compared with drafts prints from other printers. If your document has that one occasional images, the Brother HL-2150N struggles to reproduce it properly. Like its smaller cousin, the Best Buy Brother HL-2140, the Brother HL-2150N was a tad disappointing in our grayscale image test. Out of 21 shades of grey, it managed only 13 shades. If network connectivity is important to you, this one deficiency should not hold you back and we recommend the HL-2150N.

The fonts, at sizes as small as point size 2, were clear with sharp edges and a solid ink fill without visible gaps in print.

Bottom Line

Print quality is as good as the Best Buy HL-2140, but this one comes equipped with LAN connectivity, print speed is higher. Ideal for workgroups.