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Brother HL-5470DW review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £261.25
inc VAT

A solid choice for a small business or workgroup, but Samsung's cheaper ML-3710ND performs just as well

Specifications

mono laser, 38ppm print speed, USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, 245x371x384mm

http://www.lambda-tek.com

Most of the printers we review are designed for reasonably light use in the home or a study, but Brother’s HL-5470DW wireless network mono laser is aimed at small businesses or a small workgroup in a larger business. As such it’s faster than an entry-level mono laser printer, with a claimed print speed of 38 pages per minute. It’s also rugged; Brother claims it’ll print up to 50,000 pages in a month if the need arises, although the recommended duty is a more pedestrian 3,500.

Brother HL-5470DW

Other features help make the HL-5470DW a genuine option for business use. There’s a backlit LCD display that’s useful when setting the printer up, while network management features include a web admin interface, a network management tool and a program to help automate driver installations – perfect for rolling it out to a large group of users.

Brother HL-5470DW web interface
Network admins will like the web management interface

Like other Brother laser printers, consumables for the HL-5470DW comprise a separate toner and drum. The supplied drum is good for a full 30,000 pages, but the starter toner will cover only 3,000 or so. Fortunately there’s a 12,000-page high-capacity replacement that should make replacements infrequent. It also helps to keep print costs down to just under 1.2p per page, which is competitive, if not class-leading.

Brother HL-5470DW

This printer is small enough to be unpacked by one person. Setting it up is simple, but we found it a little tedious having to wait for the single-line display to scroll through multiple options. Once joined to our wireless network it produced a single network status sheet that would have been more useful had it included an IP address; while Brother’s easy installer didn’t need the IP address when setting up the printer, it would help troubleshoot when problems arise.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ***
Maximum native print resolution 1,200dpi
Maximum enhanced print resolution 1,200dpi

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4 38ppm
Quoted warm-up time 5s
Quoted time to first page, mono 9s

Tested Speeds

Mono page from sleep time 1.0 14s
Letter, time to first page 1.0 14s
25-page mono document – total time 0:0:51
Time for 24 pages mixed greyscale 1.0 53s
Time for two greyscale 10x8in photos 1.1 27s
Time for six greyscale 6x4in photos 1.0 43s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfaces USB, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless
Optional printer interfaces none
Size 245x371x384mm
Weight 10.5kg
Noise (in normal use) 59dB(A)
Duty cycle 50,000 pages

Paper Handling

Maximum paper size A4/legal
Maximum paper weight 163gsm
Standard paper inputs 2
Standard paper input capacity 300
Maximum paper inputs 3
Maximum paper input capacity 800
Output tray capacity 150 sheets
Duplex (code, cost if option) Yes

General

Printer technology mono laser
Language(s) PCL 6, BR-Script 3, IBM Proprinter XL, Epson FX-850
Supported operating systems Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.5.8, Linux CUPS/LPD/LPRng
Standard printer memory 128MB
Maximum printer memory 384MB
Other laser features and options none

Buying Information

Price £261
Price of 2nd paper cassette £109
Capacity of supplied black toner 3,000 pages
Capacity of supplied drum(s) 30,000 pages
Estimated mono TCO – three years light £356.88
Estimated mono TCO – three years medium £452.51
Estimated mono TCO – three years heavy £1442.89
Warranty one year RTB
Supplier http://www.lambda-tek.com
Details www.brother.co.uk

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two greyscale 10x8in photos 1.1 27s
Time for six greyscale 6x4in photos 1.0 43s