A colour laser printer for as much as medium-responsibility use in a small or micro workplace or a workgroup, the Brother HL-L8260CDW ($329.ninety nine) grants superb output pleasant for textual content and pictures. It gives a extensive variety of connection choices, right paper handling, and a fairly low fee of ownership. Its aggregate of capabilities and overall performance at a aggressive fee earns it our Editors’ Choice.
Design and Features
An off-white printer with a black pinnacle, the HL-L8260CDW ($399.ninety nine at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) is usual in length and weight for a colour laser at its fee. It measures 12.three with the aid of using 16.1 with the aid of using 19.1 inches (HWD), and weighs 47.nine pounds. You will possibly want human beings to transport it into place, and it’s far big sufficient that you may need to position it on a desk or bench of its own. On pinnacle of the printer, a -line monochrome show to the left of the output tray, mixed with a small suite of feature buttons, enables setup and maintenance.
For paper handling, the HL-L8260CDW is usual of a colour laser in its fee class. Standard paper ability is three hundred sheets, among a 250-sheet foremost tray and a 50-sheet multipurpose feeder. It can take in to a few elective 250-sheet trays ($179.ninety nine each) for a most ability of 1,050. An auto-duplexer, for printing on each aspects of a sheet of paper, comes wellknown. Maximum month-to-month responsibility cycle is 40,000 pages, making it appropriate for as much as medium-responsibility use in a micro or small workplace.
You get an amazing variety of connectivity choices. The printer connects to a PC thru a USB cable, or to a neighborhood community thru Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It also can be part of an instantaneous peer-to-peer reference to a well suited tool thru Wi-Fi Direct. It helps Google Cloud Print, and works with the Brother iPrint&Scan app in addition to Cortado Workplace, and is each AirPrint- and Mopria-compliant to facilitate printing from iOS and Android devices.
Printing Speed
Speed is usual of a colour laser on this fee variety. In printing the textual content-best (Word) part of our commercial enterprise packages suite, the HL-L8260CDW precisely meets its rated pace of 33 pages in keeping with minutes (ppm) for monochrome and colour printing. In printing the total suite, which incorporates PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel documents further to the aforementioned Word document, it averages 12.1ppm. The OKI C332dn ($1,900.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a brand new window) efficaciously suits its 31ppm rated pace with our Word document (we timed it at 31.4ppm), and prints out the complete suite at 13.8ppm, a bit quicker than the Brother. We can not without delay examine the HL-L8260CDW’s pace with the HP M452dw, which we examined the usage of our vintage protocol, however that version has a barely decrease rated pace (28ppm for each black and colour printing).
You get an amazing variety of connectivity choices. The printer connects to a PC thru a USB cable, or to a neighborhood community thru Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It also can be part of an instantaneous peer-to-peer reference to a well suited tool thru Wi-Fi Direct. It helps Google Cloud Print, and works with the Brother iPrint&Scan app in addition to Cortado Workplace, and is each AirPrint- and Mopria-compliant to facilitate printing from iOS and Android devices.
Output Quality
Overall output pleasant for the HL-L8260CDW, primarily based totally on our testing, became above common, with above-par textual content and pictures, and barely under-par photos. Text must be quality for any commercial enterprise use besides possibly for the ones requiring very tiny fonts. Of the 4 wellknown fonts in our check suite, one became honestly readable at sizes right all the way down to four points, have been readable right all the way down to five points, and one down to six points. The HL-L8260CDW did properly with our 3 uncommon or stylized typefaces as properly.
Graphics are right sufficient for maximum any expert scenario, such as PowerPoint handouts (even ones supposed for critical clients). Graphics from the HL-L8260CDW may want to also be used for fundamental advertising and marketing materials, like one-web page handouts. It did properly in rendering colour gradients and skinny lines. The best trouble really well worth citing became moderate banding in some backgrounds.
With photos, I observed posterization—an inclination for abrupt shifts in tone in which they must be gradual—in numerous prints, and additionally a few dithering (graininess). A monochrome image had a mild tint. There became regularly a mild lack of element in shiny areas.
Overall, the HL-L8260CDW’s output pleasant isn’t always pretty as right because the HP M452dw, however now no longer in a manner that must downside it. The HL-L8260CDW has a sizable aspect in textual content pleasant, that is barely under common for the M452dw. They each have remarkable pictures, with a mild aspect going to the HP. The HL-L8260CDW’s image pleasant falls brief of the M452dw’s. In general, image printing is much less of a concern for workplaces than textual content or pictures, however agencies that want first-rate photos (say, for real-property handouts) can be higher off deciding on the HP M452dw. Text is the staple of workplace printing, though, and the HL-L8260CDW has a clean aspect here. And even though its pictures are not pretty as stellar because the M452dw’s, they must nevertheless be quality for fundamental advertising and marketing materials.
Running Costs
Based on Brother’s figures for consumables, the HL-L8260CDW’s walking fees are 2.five cents in keeping with black web page and 12.7 cents in keeping with colour web page, at the low facet for a printer of its fee. The HP M452dw (2.2 cents and 13.6 cents for monochrome and colour pages) has barely decrease black fees and barely better colour fees. The OKI C332dn’s walking fees are substantially better, four cents in keeping with black web page and 17.6 cents in keeping with colour web page.
Conclusion
The Brother HL-L8260CDW stacks up well in opposition to the Editors’ Choice HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw. We could not check them pace-smart head to head, however the Brother has a barely better rated pace. And it has higher elective paper ability than the M452dw, and decrease colour fees. While the HL-L8260CDW gives decidedly higher textual content pleasant, image pleasant isn’t always as right, and the HP edges it in pictures. Both printers are strong choices, however the HL-L8260CDW has a mild usual aspect, making it our new Editors’ Choice colour laser printer for as much as medium-responsibility printing in a small or micro workplace.
