- 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
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!
Buy Brother HL-1440 Laser Printer Now
This printer is great for printing really long text documents such as novels and screenplays. I have it set up on two computers--my old Dell Latitude LM and my new Mac G4--via the parallel and USB ports (thank God they started making printers that were PC and Mac compatible!). My 133 megahurtz PC will print a 130 page Final Draft document in 13 minutes 40 seconds (yes, I timed it). My 500 MHz Mac will do a fifteen page Word doc. in 55 seconds. So, I think that on a faster computer, you''ll get the 15 PPM that the company advertises. The 600 dpi text is outstanding for both Times New Roman and Courier Final Draft. And the paper tray holds 250 pages! This is one of the first printers I''ve ever bought that lives up to the hype. I just got rid of a new Epson 870 Photoprinter that was supposed to get 8 PPM but only did 2 PPM on the "draft" setting! I ordered the Brother from Amazon and it got to my house in Oregon in about a week via ground UPS. It took me ten minutes to get it set up and printing. For ... bucks (including shipping) this printer kicks .... A note for those of you who are using Final Draft: Some annoying printers, like the Epson, cut the "continued" text (at the bottom of the page) in half; and you are forced to select the "print maximum field" button every time you print which can be really annoying. No problem with the brother. It prints the entire page in FD docs.
Read Best Reviews of Brother HL-1440 Laser Printer Here
Laser printing is a lot faster than most of the inkjets that we use. When I first installed it and printed the test page, out came a piece of paper so fast, I thought it was a printing mistake. You know the speed of an inkjet, when it is rejecting the print, or only printing the top line, then the paper exits out real fast. Well this printer prints a whole page that fast. The sheet under it is just settling down, when the one over it arrives. For high volume printing needs that is the only way to fly.
This model HL-1440 was Consumer Reports number one rated laser printer. It had the best print speed, and the lowest per page cost of all the units tested.
Since this allows you to hook it up with a USB cable (or with a standard paralell cable), it enables you to keep your existing printer hooked up. Then when you go to print, you can choose either printer.
The one thing I noticed is that the fullness of the text is not as great as the HP 950 series inkjet. It does have 1200 dpi as an option. It normally runs at 600 as the default.
Something worth mentioning. Some comment that they have had problems with the pages getting junk on the page after using it for awhile. The cartridge that comes with the machine, which is rather substantial, loudly states on the cover in bold print, that when moving the machine, the cartridge must be removed, and stored in the bag, or serious damage may result. Those who are having problems, may have moved the machine around, and didn''t treat it too gently. Maybe they did, maybe they didn''t. I would set it up where you plan on using it, and not moving it. If I did move it, I would do so carefully.
One thing that sets this one apart, is the loading tray for the paper. It is removable, and sits in the bottom of the unit. That is reminiscent of quality copying machines.
The big advantage of laser is that the print material is dry powder, so unlike inkjets, can never dry out. I have a friend who bought an NEC laser in 1985, and is still using the original cartridge. (He is frugal, and doesn''t print a lot, but it is a good example of how long a cartridge will last)
At first I considered getting the HL 1470N so I could hook it up to the wireless network. It has the print server and ethernet built in. Then I realized, since it was twice the price, it would be a better idea to get two 1440s. If I ever have any problems, I have a backup on the other machine.
One last thing, is that I like the way the Brother looks. It gives a more substantial and quality feel, than the competition in the entry level machines.
With more money you get different models with higher dpi, Post Script Level 2 or 3, more memory etc.
So far, so good, easy install, in only a few minutes. It installed in an XP machine, and a Windows ME machine without a glitch.
For this kind of money, to get laser speed, and quality, and economy, makes this unit a must have.
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I bought this printer by accident and without realizing it (long story), but I''m reasonably glad I did. I had originally chosen a competitor''s unit, based on three factors: 1) cost, 2) reliability, and 3) good Linux compatibility. For the same price I ended up with the HL-1440 instead. After connecting the HL-1440 up via USB to my Linux PC, I''m mildly glad this "mistake" occurred.
Positives:
1) Super-easy installation for Linux users. Just ghostscript''s "Brother" driver. Even the toner-saving modes are supported. I have had ZERO driver problems.
2) Blazing fast printer. After all these years with Canon SX engine printers (LaserJet II, LaserWriter II, etc.) this unit is a bit of a revelation to me... those pages just keep flying out!
3) Excellent print quality. I''m up to about 3,000 sheets in two-and-a-half months and the print quality is still pristine.
4) Very easy to upgrade. The first thing I did is pop the little cover on the back and put in a standard 32MB 72-pin SIMM to upgrade the memory.
5) LARGE paper tray can hold 3/4ths of a ream. For a personal-sized printer, that''s not bad!
6) Very quiet, and also has an automatic power-save mode in which it appears to be entirely off... until you send it a job, at which time it wakes up in just a few seconds.
There are, however, some drawbacks to consider (and thus three-and-a-half stars, rather than four or five):
1) Separate drum that will eventually have to be replaced. One more consumable to worry about.
2) Construction is just *slightly* on the flimsy side.
3) No printed manual(s), just a CD-ROM containing .PDF files.
4) Call me old-fashioned, but I''d like more than just one button and a couple of LEDs as external controls. A control panel of some kind to choose power-saving, toner-saving, etc. would have been nice (instead of all controls being in the software/driver).
5) If you get a paper jam, watch out! The .PDF manual actually tells you to grab the jammed sheet wherever you can and... start pulling! Most of the paper path is not easily accessible, though, so if you start pulling and a sheet of paper actually tears, leaving half of it inside, you''ll spend quite a while reaching into open covers, trying to extract it so that the printer will agree to print once again. (Upside: I''ve only had the one jam so far...)
All in all, I''m satisfied with this printer. There are two kinds of products: the ones you hope will break soon so that you can replace them in good conscience and the ones that you hope won''t break because you''re busy using them all the time. For me, this printer is in the latter camp.
One day while strolling through Office Max on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, I stumbled across what I thought was an exceptional deal a 1200 DPI laser printer under $200! It almost seemed too good to be true. After some initial skepticism and subsequent analysis, I realized that it was, in fact, an excellent deal for a niche low volume user who needs fast printing.
As a frequent author of reviews, I would typically check Amazon before buying such an item. So after returning to my office, printer in hand, my enthusiasm was somewhat dampened by the negative reviews on the HL-1440. I almost returned it before seeing the print quality and performing some basic calculations. In the end, I am glad I kept it as it serves my need for having a fast, high quality, low volume printer in my one-man office.
Currently I own a [large] microwave-sized multifunction HP inkjet (d155xi), which is at my home office. I decided that if I needed another printer in a second location, it should be a inexpensive laser printer. Initially, I thought I would purchase a $300 HP. My concern with such printers and the other sub-$500 printers was the cost of the consumables. Experience with ink-jets (such as my HP-d155xi) demonstrated that the ink expenditures are a real killer. This, of course, is a ploy by the manufacturers to recoup equipment costs via pricy consumables.
The sales associate at Office Max suggested that the replacement toner cartridges last 6000 sheets for around $60. After some mental calculations, I figured that it would be a good deal. Only when I returned to read the Amazon customer reviews did I learn that there was a second consumable the drum that lasts, at best, 20,000 sheets. This is something I did not anticipate. While I have no way of determining if this second consumable was created for purely technical reasons or merely as a financial/marketing strategy, I would guess that it is a bit of both. Moreover, at a cost of $115 w/tax, the drum costs about 65% of the cost of a HL-1440, making a second drum purchase a psychological obstacle.
To determine if the Brother HL-1440 was a good value, I opened Excel and performed some basic calculations, which you can see below.
Assumptions Drum replaced at 15,000 sheets first time; 18,000 additional sheets second time. High capacity toner lasts stated 6000 sheets, original yields 3000 sheets. Note that it doesn''t come with a USB cable ($20) but I had a surplus one.
$w_tax total$ total sheets ¢_sheet
printer $176 $176 3k 5.9
HC toner 1 $57 $232 9k 2.6
HC toner 2 $57 $289 15k 1.9
New Drum $115 $404 15k
HC toner 3 $57 $461 21k 2.2
HC toner 4 $57 $518 27k 1.9
HC toner 5 $57 $574 33k 1.7
As you can see, if you chose to toss the printer at 15,000 sheets, the average price per sheet is 1.9 cents. This is far below the cost of printing at Kinko''s excluding transportation costs and convenience value. The tricky part comes from the decision to purchase a new drum. It takes a while to recoup the cost of the drum, making it a very tough decision for some. Moreover, one has to guess how long the other components will last. Given my level of use, I would probably not purchase the drum. In the three years that it would take to wear out the first drum, another, more cost effective solution would become available.
Like expectancy issues aside, there are some nice features to this printer. Print quality is excellent (as least after the first 500 pages). While somewhat lightweight compared to workgroup printers, it is built better than most inkjets I have used. Nice touches include the paper level meter where a mechanical needle on the front indicates the height of the paper reserves in the tray.
Some strange problems include mirror printing from certain applications, such as MS Streets and Trips 2004. This is corrected by a patch. There is also a recurring "Found New Hardware" problem where it creates a new printer icon (Copy 1, 2, etc). It usually stops at copy 2. Brother suggests that this is a Windows XP problem. As I have used multiple USB printers on this and similar computers, I doubt that it is just an XP problem. In the end, it appears that a full drive uninstall may have solved this minor annoyance.
In the end, I would suggest this printer is a good choice for low volume home offices or single person companies. If you are like me, someone who prints around a 100 pages per week and needs a fast printer when on deadline, the HL-1440 is a good choice. I would not recommend this for any moderate volume or workgroup environment.
Pro''s
Excellent print quality
Very inexpensive
Low total cost of ownership/price per page
Nice paper level meter
Con''s
Poor front interface
Short life
Possible driver problems
Strange printing anomalies (corrected by patches)
Only 2MB memory
No USB cabled included
