Brother 1440’s are my laser workhorses. Combined with the similar 1240’s I have more than four times the number of these as any other laser model and, separately, nearly twice as many as the 1240’s. The fewer number of 1240’s is due to nothing more than time of purchase since the 1440’s are the newer model, not because there is a huge difference that sets the two apart.

The 1440’s use a drawer underneath the printer to hold and feed paper. It feeds forward, up, back, up again, then forward into the out bin. Folding the paper on top of itself is for the sake of a compact design, otherwise it would be twice or three times as long instead of so tall. There are additional ins and outs, though. A front slot will accept single pages and feed basically the same way that an ink jet does: back, up, then forward. There’s an optional rear tray that can be folded down meaning that if the numerous turns are causing you problems for some reason, you can still use the printer at a lower capacity and stay flat from front to back, more like a conveyor belt carrying pages under the toner and fuser.

Quality is what I would expect from a laser in this class. Mine are used primarily for text documents but handle HTML graphics and charts just fine. Generally if those are vital to the printout a color printer is used, but for clarity and readability the Brother does a good job.

Naturally, since I have so many 1440’s that are used so heavily I deal with numerous problems. I will outline a few of the most common for you. Most of the service calls end up being about toner or a drum rather than problems with the printer itself. By far the most common problem is with rollers. They wear out which is not unexpected so this wouldn’t be so much a problem as maintenance. You just need to make sure you’re able to swap those or have someone on hand that can. Most of my users think their printer is a useless piece of junk when this happens, but that couldn’t be more untrue. You don’t trade your car in when the tires go bad, neither is your printer at the end of its rope when the rollers wear out.

The drum and toner are separate units. The downside to that is that it's best to replace the toner when you replace the drum even if the toner is not at the end of its life. Usually you can drag out the life of the toner to match that of the drum in such a case (running them both to death as it were), but you sacrifice print quality by doing that. Toner quality itself varies. To save on cost I typically do not use Brother toners but a comparable brand. I tend to have more trouble out of the high-yield toners than regular as far as mess and degrading print quality. Replacing toners is generally a pretty clean job and simple enough that I let my users take care of that on their own. I replace the drums myself just to verify that it is definitely a dying drum that is causing the problem; it's also quite simple.

I do have some printers develop a slight squeak in some of the rotating parts, but the main actual unexpected problem I’ve had was with a fuser that fell apart on the inside. After replacing that fuser I have had no additional trouble out of the printer. I have also had to return one when I got it new and the gears began locking up. When you buy this many printers you run the risk of getting a dud, but the ones that I have in use at the various sites have held up very well.

The one frustration I have is with how the printouts begin looking dirty as the toner gets low. Often this happens even before the low toner message displays. No amount of cleaning will clear the print, only a new toner. I also have 1 or 2 that display a light to replace the drum no matter how many times that is done. I can usually tell by the quality of the printouts when a drum is going out so not having an accurate signal is not a big issue, but you need to know that the sensors aren’t always perfectly accurate in these units. I do have to clean out spilled toner occasionally, but the amount is insignificant compared to many of the other laser printer I have to clean.

My most common error before I became as familiar with them was not cleaning the laser lens above the drum. Keeping it free of toner makes a difference as do regular cleanings in general. The most common user error I deal with over the phone is the misreading of the LED’s. There are 4 on the front of the printer: Drum, Ready, Alarm, and Data. Combinations of these lights mean low toner or out of paper. Some users have a hard time figuring out Alarm and Ready together mean out of paper even though it’s clearly marked. I guess when you’ve got a printer tech just a phone call away it’s easier to call him than pay attention to what the blinking lights might mean. If you’ll actually look at them, though, they are clear even if 2 more LED’s instead of a combination might be a little better.

As my company’s chief printer tech I prefer having a 1440 in the IT office over any other, and they are my first choice for new printers unless the person or group getting it needs multiple paper drawers or color capabilities.

This is my first printer review of many potential future ones. Any feedback to help me improve the ones yet to be written would be much appreciated.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 200
Operating System: Windows