Brother HL-L3295CDW review: a compact color laser printer

Brother's HL-L3295CDW is a compact color laser printer.

Brother HL-L3295CDW

MSRP $369.99

DT Recommended Product

“Brother’s HL-L3295CDW is a compact and quick shade laser printer that is constructed for productiveness and safety, making it higher for small companies than for house places of work.”

Professionals

  • Wonderful shade doc print high quality
  • Quick prints on lengthy paperwork
  • Consists of over 1,000 pages price of toner
  • Stroll-up USB port for fast printing
  • Low noise

Cons

  • Display screen is tough to see when seated
  • Touchscreen use is awkward
  • Paper curls

Brother’s HL-L3295CDW is a speedy shade laser printer designed in your house workplace or small enterprise. If you would like eye-catching shade paperwork and studies with charts and pictures, its options ought to verify of all of the objects in your want listing.

Whereas it seems to be good on paper, I wished to go hands-on with the HL-L3295CDW to establish any points and assess how a lot worth you’ll get from this productivity-focused printer. For every new printer I evaluation, I verify whether or not it’s adequate to earn a spot on our listing of the perfect shade laser printers.

Design

The color touchscreen of Brother's HL-L3295CDW is fixed at a 20-degree angle.
The colour touchscreen of Brother’s HL-L3295CDW is fastened at a 20-degree angle. Alan Really / Digital Traits

The one-function Brother HL-L3295CDW is a gorgeous, off-white shade laser printer with a small footprint that measures 17.6 by 15.7 inches. It stands simply 10.8 inches tall. For the reason that output bin is on prime, that doesn’t lengthen its dimensions. Whereas this can be a small printer, it’s sturdy and weighs 36.8 kilos.

There’s a 2.7-inch shade touchscreen on the highest, to the left of the output bin. It’s fastened in place at a 20-degree angle, which works effectively after I’m standing in entrance of the HL-L3295CDW. If I used to be sitting, it might be exhausting to see the show. An adjustable angle that would tilt the display extra vertically would have been good.

Brother features a handy USB-A port for a thumb drive on the entrance left facet, with an NFC card reader on prime. This further safety measure isn’t wanted for house use, however may be welcome in a busy workplace.

The principle paper tray is a detachable drawer on the backside that may maintain 250 sheets of paper. A 30-sheet multipurpose tray angles out from a entrance panel, making it simple to print envelopes and labels with out swapping the paper in the primary tray.

USB-B and Ethernet ports on the proper rear enable for direct connection to a pc, however dual-band Wi-Fi can be supported.

Printing efficiency

Brother's HL-L3295CDW is fast with great color document quality.
Brother’s HL-L3295CDW is quick, with nice shade doc high quality. Alan Really / Digital Traits

The Brother HL-L3295CDW is a quick printer as soon as it will get rolling. Lengthy paperwork rush via at as much as 31 pages per minute (ppm), outpacing the 22-ppm velocity of Canon’s imageClass MF654cdw, however falling behind the 35-ppm tempo of Canon’s imageClass MF753cdw. These Canon printers are all-in-one shade laser printers, however the imageClass MF654cdw is in the identical value tier as Brother’s HL-L3295CDW.

In the case of high quality, the HL-L3295CDW affords glorious shade doc printing and helps duplex, so it can save you paper by printing on either side. It additionally affords a decrease price per web page than most shade laser printers. I’ll focus on toner costs under.

I tinkered with the colour and distinction settings to see if I might make colours extra vivid and get darker blacks. Colour stability is correct, however footage remained a bit washed out. Whereas the HL-L3295CDW affords glorious shade doc print high quality and pictures look good, this isn’t your best option for printing images. Inkjet printers have all the time been the perfect photograph printers.

Brother's HL-L3295CDW is fast but paper tends to curl after passing through the printer.
Brother’s HL-L3295CDW is quick, however paper tends to curve after passing via the printer. Picture by Tracey Really / Digital Traits

Monochrome printing is crisp and quick. The primary web page of a doc prints in as little as 13 seconds. The media tray is effectively labeled and appears sturdy. It reliably pulled envelopes, labels, and heavy paper via with no bother. I did discover a considerable quantity of curling after paper handed via the printer, notably on thicker paper.

Particular options

The HL-L3295CDW's thumb drive and NFC card reader are good for business use.
The HL-L3295CDW’s thumb drive and NFC card reader are good for enterprise use. Picture by Tracey Really / Digital Traits

The Brother HL-L3295CDW is a business-oriented printer. As your property workplace or small enterprise grows, you possibly can develop its printing capability with an non-compulsory decrease paper tray, supporting a complete of 500 sheets of paper so that you don’t should decelerate. The printer is designed to stack on prime of the secondary enlargement tray.

It has a USB drive port for straightforward printing with out putting in an app. You’ll be able to require NFC badge authentication, so that you get pleasure from that comfort with out sacrificing safety.

With the Brother Cellular Join app, I can print, verify toner ranges, and order provides from Brother after I’m out of the workplace. It’s additionally attainable to print from cloud-based apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote.

In the event you just like the look of the HL-L3295CDW, however must scan, copy, and fax, try my evaluation of Brother’s MFC-L3780CDW, an all-in-one shade laser printer that’s simply as quick and sturdy.

Software program and compatibility

The HL-L3295CDW could print envelopes from my computer but not my phone.
The HL-L3295CDW might print envelopes from my pc, however not my telephone. Picture by Tracey Really / Digital Traits

Set up was easy. Brother ships the HL-L3295CDW with the toner preinstalled, however with covers on the cartridges. The highest of the printer opens for straightforward entry to all 4 cartridges, so it solely took a second to take away, uncap, and reseat them.

As among the finest and hottest printer manufacturers, Brother printers are acknowledged by Home windows and Mac computer systems, making setup painless. I used to be additionally capable of join my iPhone, iPad, and Android telephone to the HL-L3295CDW with Brother’s cellular app.

Except envelopes, all the pieces labored as anticipated. There’s merely no choice to decide on a No. 10 envelope in paper settings from Brother Cellular Join. The identical is true of AirPrint when my iPhone is related to the HL-L3295CDW.

Value

The HL-L3295CDW comes with thousands of pages worth of toner.
The HL-L3295CDW comes with hundreds of pages price of toner. Picture by Tracey Really / Digital Traits

If you have already got scanner or hardly ever want that functionality, a single-function shade laser printer cuts prices to a minimal. With a retail value of $370, Brother’s HL-L3295CDW saves you over $100 when in comparison with the same all-in-one mannequin. Lengthy-term prices are all the time an necessary consideration and Brother has some good choices to economize on provides as effectively.

Brother’s HL-L3295CDW accepts three sizes of toner cartridges: customary, excessive yield, and tremendous excessive yield. Your every day printing prices will drop dramatically for those who put money into bigger toner cartridges. The HL-L3295CDW ships with full standard-yield shade toner cartridges that may print 1,200 shade pages and a starter high-yield black toner cartridge that’s about 76% full and is equal to about 2,300 monochrome pages.

An ordinary black cartridge prints about 1,500 pages at a value of $69. That works out to five cents per web page, which is considerably costly for black-and-white paperwork. Fortunately, you possibly can scale back that to three cents per web page with an $83 high-yield cartridge (3,000-page capability), or 2 cents per web page with a $110 super-high-yield black toner cartridge (4,500-page capability).

The financial savings are much more important if you purchase bigger shade toner cartridges. Every $73 customary shade cartridge prints simply 1,200 pages, which equates to 18 cents price of toner per shade web page. Your price will drop to 14 cents per web page with high-yield cartridges (2,300-page capability), and 10 cents per shade web page with super-high-yield shade toner.

That’s one of many lowest provide prices accessible for a shopper shade laser printer. If operating prices are an enormous concern, a quick inkjet tank printer like Epson’s EcoTank Professional ET-5850 may be price a glance.

Is that this the printer for you?

It is a high-quality shade laser printer with good enterprise options and room to develop. If you add a second paper tray, you possibly can load 550 sheets of paper at one time. 

Mixed with super-high-yield cartridges, you possibly can rapidly blast via a large printing queue with few interruptions. The Brother HL-L3295CDW is prepared for a exercise with a most month-to-month responsibility cycle of as much as 50,000 pages. Really helpful print quantity is 4,000 pages monthly, however this sturdy printer can deal with extra every now and then.

Nonetheless, there are just a few points to contemplate. The fastened show is greatest seen whereas standing. The touchscreen doesn’t acknowledge swipe gestures, and as an alternative supplied arrow buttons to maneuver via settings. Image high quality is sweet, however images look a bit uninteresting.

Whereas it isn’t my prime choose to be used in a house workplace, the Brother HL-L3295CDW may be nice for a small enterprise that wants a low-cost, strong shade laser printer with walk-up printing from a thumb drive and NFC safety.






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