Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces

I've had this printer for over two years now and have used it extensively. It produces consistently high quality, fast and inexpensive documents. I was tired of fooling with cheap, flimsy, inconsistent color printers when most of the printing I do is B/W and this puppy is actually cheaper than those garbage, ink hogs. I don't regret this choice for a second.I have not needed to use the wireless option, but the instructions are very clear on setting that up. Just read before you proceed.I have saved a fortune on ink. The toner is much less expensive than ink cartridges which seem to be a racket and the first, included, toner cartridge lasted much longer than expected, especially if you ignore the low toner light and put a piece of tape over the clear windows on the toner unit as others have suggested and explained in greater detail.Don't confuse the drum unit, which needs replacement much, much less frequently, with the toner cartridge. Only the toner cartridge needs replacement every so often... the drum last much longer, and actually, you can almost buy a new printer for the price of a new OEM drum and get the smaller toner cartridge too... when that time finally comes!The reason I advise using Brother replacement components/ink cartridge is because the "generic" ones are a crap shoot and Brothers seems to be one of those rare companies, like Samsung, that just make really good products consistently and seems to care about the integrity of their products and materials used.One really nice feature is the ability to "feed its face slot" with a custom label or sheets of thicker stock or special paper one at a time; but don't worry, the tray holds lots of paper for everyday use and when you place a sheet into the face, it automatically knows to print from there. Just wait about 2 seconds for it to be "sucked in" slightly and held in place a quarter inch while you finalize your printing command. The printer goes back to the tray when there is nothing there (in the face slot). Have multiple sheets to feed the slot? Don't worry, you just have to be ready with the next sheet to feed it and that will again, auto override the tray.Another word of advise... stick with Brothers Original replacement toner cartridges (and I am all about saving a buck)... no need to replace the entire drum unit-- unless, like me, you got a bad "generic" toner cartridge and it muffed it up a little. The replacement, re-manufactured cartridge I received once my original cartridge was dry, was not fresh, fit a little goofy and had a short "use by date," shortening the life and creating the mentioned minor damage to my drum unit. It didn't ruin the drum, so I will wait for it's normal life cycle to end on that, but now the text is ever so slightly mis-sized from line to line and that is being picky...STICK WITH BROTHER REPLACEMENT TONER CARTRIDGES. You pay a little more up front, but can be more sure your drum will not get goofed up (a little pricey) and the toner is more likely to be fresh, meaning longer life and will not damage your drum unit.The printer function itself has been 100 percent problem free for over two years with thousands and thousands of prints and is simple, simple, simple.Consistently produces very high quality, bold, clear, clean B/W printed docs! I cannot recommend this one highly enough and have owned a-lot of printers and have played the "ink price games."GREAT VALUE ON A VERY HIGH QUALITY BUILD, INSIDE AND OUT! Has fairly thick, quality plastic casing and good, quality internal components (at least what can be seen).Did I mention the fresh print-outs smell good? ;One tiny complaint... I wish the toner unit was a little easier to change; it does take some finesse, but that may be because of my mistake of buying a cheap, generic replacement cartridge.Grab what is, in my opinion, the best Laser printer value out there. I really appreciate Brothers thoughtful design and quality components. No bells and whistles and glossy gizmos, nor flimsy plastic doo-dads... just a good, quality, well built product meant for serious, no nonsense, reliable use.This is the Ford Taurus of B/W laser printers. Just a good, reliable design and build!Great, unobtrusive size to boot!Keep it up Brother!

---UPDATE 11/2012 - 3 years Later -----After three years, still no problems with printer. Works great. Changed the toner a few times and that's been it.Highly recommend.-------------EOM----------------------------Great monochrome printer. I've only had it for a couple of days and here's what I've found.SMALL SIZE--------------------Fits anywhere, especially with wireless feature. Move it to a shelf, closet, or in a cabinet.EASY WIRELESS SET-UP---------------------Wireless set-up was fast and easy on my two computers. I was worried because of the other reviews about some difficulty in setting up wireless. I installed the software and during installation selected the instructions to set-up wireless WITHOUT the cable. Even though it suggested I connect first w/ a cable. I followed the instructions, and it found the printer signal (after two attempts) and it connected right up. The second computer took 3 minutes running the same install software (from the CD)FAST, SMOOTH, PRINTING----------------------The printer is fast. Immediately after I print from my computer, I can hear the printer start-up from sleep mode. Then about 5 seconds later the first page comes out. It prints the page in about 1.5 seconds, then there's a 1/2 second lag and the next page comes out. So about 2 seconds per page. Fast and smooth.PRINT QUALITY----------------------The print quality is excellent. My ink jet printers don't really compare to the quality of a laser printer. I have the printer set to 600 dpi (other choices are 300 and 1200) and I have toner saver mode turned on.PAPER CURL----------------------Some people mentioned paper curl. I have had zero paper curl. I'm using standard Office Depot brand paper.CONFIGURATION----------------------I like the way I can enter the IP address of the printer and access all of the configuration and network options on the printer from any of my computers. It keeps tracks of how many pages are printed, toner levels, drum life, etc. Note: The IP address is assigned after set-up and is printed on the configuration page (press blue button three times in two seconds to have it printed)FEATURES---------------------One feature I like is "N-up" printing. It allows you to print two to 10 multiple pages per print page. I've used four, which is great when reviewing docs or reading printed articles. The print is small but very readable (for me). Choose printer options or properties after hitting your print button to select "multiple page" option. There are other print features not described here.OPERATION COSTS----------------------This printer will save you a lot of money. It only costs about 1 cent per page to print, since you can purchase 2500 page printer toner refills for about $25. My ink jet was costing me at least 10 cents per page. I was spending about $100/year in ink jet cartridges for well under a 1000 pages printed a year. Now it will cost me $10. That's at least $90 in savings. You'll break even on the purchase of the printer in one year! (assuming you get printer on sale). I have an all-in-one ink jet, but will now use the HL-2170W for the bulk of my printing needs.CONCLUSION---------------------There's a reason the printer has 4.5/5.0 star rating after hundred's of reviews. The printer is fast. Print quality is superb and it will actually save you money.