Brother HL-5470DW review

In use the HL-5470DW is comfortably as fast as Brother says it is. While it recorded just under 30ppm on our text test, which includes the time taken to prepare the print job, once it started printing it actually reached 39.5ppm. It was a similar story with our mixed graphics test, the complexity of which caused only one tiny mid-job hesitation. In contrast, we were slightly disappointed by the printer’s leisurely 14-second time to first page, although this did remain constant whether it was warm from a previous job or stone cold after a couple of hours’ sleep. It was also slow to print photos at the maximum 1,200 dots-per-inch resolution, but at the default 600dpi they were produced much more quickly.

Brother’s print driver is clear and easy to use

We’ve no complaints about this printer’s excellent black text quality, but it’s not the best mono laser for business graphics or photos. Even at its top resolution, graphics exhibited some fine banding and comparatively crude half-toning in which there were visible patterns. The printer’s paper-handling is good, however: both paper trays clearly indicate the correct alignment, and envelopes were printed perfectly. Overall this is a good printer, but the Samsung ML-3710ND is at least its equal. Samsung’s printer is also cheaper to buy and run, so it remains our choice in this class.