# Monochrome Printer Question



## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

I am looking at purchasing the following. 

Brother HL-2140 Personal Laser Printer

I read about replacement drums and toner. I know what toner is, but not a drum. 

Help?


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

rean said:


> I know what toner is, but not a drum.


The drum does the actual printing. Drums do wear out. You can tell that your drum is shot when you start to see black streaks on the printed pages.

In the case of the printer you are interested in the toner cartridge and drum unit can be purchased separately. That's a plus, since toner cartridges are only around $25. Drums are around $30 (These are eBay prices). With some printers the drum is part of the toner cartridge, which can make the toner cartridges expensive.


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

Thanks Nevada! 

I currently have a lexmark all in one printer. I love having the flatbed scanner, but the thing won't accept refurb cartridges, and in order for it to work you have to have a color and mono cartridge installed. Add to it the cost of ink. It gets depressing. :0(

What kind of printer do you have?


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

rean said:


> Thanks Nevada!
> 
> I currently have a lexmark all in one printer. I love having the flatbed scanner, but the thing won't accept refurb cartridges, and in order for it to work you have to have a color and mono cartridge installed. Add to it the cost of ink. It gets depressing. :0(
> 
> What kind of printer do you have?


I'm using a Canon all-in-one model MP490 right now. It's ink jet technology. I don't print a lot any longer so ink jet is satisfactory.

I used to have a Brother mono laser printer, but I was printing check drafts with MICR toner (the magnetic stuff). The more abrasive MICR toner ate the Brother cartridge seals up (it leaked toner), so I got an HP model laser printer. That worked fine with MICR toner. I later printed my own books with standard toner to sell with the HP printer, and saved a fortune over what ink jet printing would have cost.

I gave my Brother printer to a friend who used it for about 5 years with standard toner. I'm sure I would have been happy with the Brother printer if it weren't for the MICR toner.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

rean said:


> Brother HL-2140 Personal Laser Printer


You may not have noticed, that model has more 1-star than 2- or 3-star reviews. That's usually not a good bet; read the 1-star reviews and you'll see why. If you do go ahead and buy it, you'll want to take note of a couple of the 1-star reviewers' solution to the premature "toner out" message. As for the other common problems, well, you pays yer money and you takes yer chances.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll point out again that equipment that's built for the home consumer market is built as cheaply as possible without much thought given to longevity. That's why most folks these days think a computer or printer should last only maybe 3-4 years -- they buy the cheapest junk available, and the result is predictable. For less than this Brother costs, you can buy a used HP LaserJet 6P or other model that's built for medium-duty office use, and chances are it'll work longer than you will.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Be aware that other problems can cause those black streaks. In addition to the corona wire, look for any place in the paper path that is dirty. Nevada, where did you get your Micr toner?


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

I bought the printer you ask about 2-3 weeks ago. I guess the thread I posted about it has already been pruned from the forum.

So far mine has performed flawlessly, especially for a $49 laser printer.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Harry Chickpea said:


> Nevada, where did you get your Micr toner?


I ordered it from a website. I haven't done that for about 5 years so I don't recall the specific website.


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

Windy in Kansas said:


> I bought the printer you ask about 2-3 weeks ago. I guess the thread I posted about it has already been pruned from the forum.
> 
> So far mine has performed flawlessly, especially for a $49 laser printer.


Where did you purchase yours Windy?


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2010)

I've got a Brother DCP-7040 All-In-One Laser Printer

Got a fantastic deal on it at Office Depot. If you watch the sales at the office supply stores, you can get a good laser printer for cheap, and they also have copy paper sales: cheap! cheap! I got 10 reams of copy paper on Monday for $9.99 (was on sale for $19.99 and I used a $10 coupon).

Here are reviews for my printer: 
http://reviews.cnet.com/printers/brother-dcp-7040/4852-3155_7-33020327.html


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## rean (Nov 18, 2008)

Thanks LadyCat for the heads up!


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

I purchased mine at Office Max, but Office Depot had them for the same price the same week, but they are out of town to me.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Windy in Kansas said:


> I purchased mine at Office Max, but Office Depot had them for the same price the same week, but they are out of town to me.


The only chain office supply we have here is Office Depot. But I wish we had a Staples instead. Of the 3 major office supply chains, Staples has the most fantastic sales.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

I'm currently watching sales ads for VuPoint Magic Wand hand held page scanner. Hopefully it will be on sale around Christmas time although I don't really expect it to as it seems to be a fair trade item.

Coupons tend to exclude technology, or at least the ones I see. 

$99.99 I think is fairly reasonable for the scanner even if not on sale but I'd rather save.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2010)

Windy in Kansas said:


> Coupons tend to exclude technology, or at least the ones I see.


You seldom see a coupon for a specific technological product (though sometimes you do), but stores do put out generic coupons for such things as:

? $$ off a purchase of ? $$ or more
? % off of any purchase
? $$ off of a specific category (ANY printer, or ANY whatever...)

and so on.

I watch for these. Users will post them in the deals forums. That's how I was able to prepare to get ready for the netbook I got. I knew in advance it was going to be on sale, then I had time to get together store coupons that I was able to stack and get my netbook for free.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Thanks ladycat. The ones I see or am sent via emails all say not for technology purchases.

I did stop by our local Office Max today and asked the manager if in his opinion the hand held scanner might come on sale around Christmas time. Granted I'm sure he doesn't have any inside corporate information, but his honest opinion was that he figured there would be a good chance for a sale on them. 

With that in mind I think that I will go ahead and watch for super sales on micro SD memory cards, which don't come with the scanner. Figure I'll probably get 2 smaller gigabyte ones rather than one larger one. Have seen some respectable sales on them already but will begin watching a little closer. Might even get one out of an old phone that is no longer usable.


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

Low priced monochrome lasers are good if you have very limited printing needs. Once you start printing in any quantity, the toner/drum costs will make it far more expensive than a higher priced printer with lower priced consumables. Many low priced printers come with "starter cartridges" - what may usually be a 2500 page toner cartridge is only filled to 1000 pages and included with the printer (these numbers are just examples).

My experience with Brother lasers is that they are priced well, reliable enough, Costco carries some original Brother toner cartridges for very good prices and that most third party toner cartridges for the Brothers are junk.

In reality though, most monochrome lasers are more economical than most ink based printers.


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