Brother HL-2130 Toner Cartridges

Brother HL-2130 Printer Review

Hunting for a simple printer with no complicated features or unnecessary extra functions? The Brother HL-2130 is a personal monochrome laser printer that has the ability to churn out up to 20 pages per minute, making it most appropriate for a home office or cubicle. Because it does not offer networking or wireless capabilities, the HL-2130 can only be connected to one PC at a time. Fortunately, most major operating systems are supported, including Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Setting up the HL-2130 is about as simple as possible, requiring users to simply install the cartridge, load the provided driver, and connect the printer to a computer via USB port. The control panel, or lack thereof, does not have a status LCD or a series of buttons for navigating through the printer's menu. Rather, on the left side of the top panel next to the output tray, there are three LED lights that are used to indicate issues with the drum, Brother HL-2130 toner, or general errors. Another LED light marked Ready shows when the machine has warmed up and the single button labeled Go can be used to print test pages or resume a paused print job.

The built-in memory is 8 MB, which should be sufficient for a small office, but unfortunately cannot be upgraded if business increases beyond this RAM's capacity. An automatic duplexer is not present, but users can perform dual-sided printing manually by re-feeding pages. The input drawer sits on the bottom of the machine and can hold up to 250 sheets while the output tray holds about 100 documents. There is also an opening on the front of the HL-2130 that is a single-sheet multipurpose slot for alternate media types.

The Brother HL-2130 toner cartridges come in two different sizes. The standard toners can yield 1,200 pages while the high-capacity replacements will yield up to 2,600 pages. Though the cost per page is not as low as some competing models with higher capacity printer toner, remanufactured Brother HL-2130 toner cartridges can be purchased from third-party vendors for a more affordable price that makes it a very good value.

With a maximum output resolution of 2400x600 dpi, complex graphics still may appear a bit grainy, especially in the gray areas. On the other hand, text documents print with the clarity and sharpness expected in a professional atmosphere. Even when the Toner Save mode is activated, which limits the amount of Brother HL-2130 toner used per print, the text is still crisp and easy to read.

Designed for personal use, but containing the speed and quality capabilities sufficient for a small office user, the HL-2130 is a solid investment for both purposes. It is compatible with most operating systems and is very easy to set up, but high-volume users should look elsewhere.