Brother HL-5250DN Laser Printer

Pros: Duplexing, Network Ready, and Price make this a top performer.
Cons: Can be noisy during operation and has a tendency to flicker the lights a bit!

I inherited my first laser printer many years ago, and haven’t looked back. After years of wresting with paper jams and other issues with my HP 5L, I decided to upgrade to a new Samsung ML-1210. Another 5 years and 10k pages later, I’ve ...

Pros: Fast, quiet, reliable, true 1200 DPI mode (not interpolated)
Cons: Still trying to find one.

It's been almost two years since we bought our first HL-5250DN, and we're still trying to find something bad to say about it. We recently bought another one as a gift for a friend's new office. One thing we do know: we paid less for this duplexing, ...

Pros: Fast, inexpensive network ready printer
Cons: Forget printing envelopes.

I am an in-house computer tech for a non-profit company. I have been buying HL-5250DN's because HP laser printers with networking built-in are overpriced. All my installations until now have been in offices with 1 to 4 people using the printer. Today ...

Pros: Ethernet, Postscript, and Duplex in one inexpensive printer. Everything works. Very quick warmup from sleep.
Cons: Printer does not soft-start, UPS on computer kicks in momentarily when printer starts. Envelopes wrinkle.

Purchased new January 2006. I typically print full pages in duplex mode, apparently more than the "5% coverage" rating as the printer was complaining about the 3500-page rated toner being low at 1700 pages. Kept using it anyway without seeing any ...

Pros: Networkable, duplex, printing costs are less than an inkjet, very fast printing.
Cons: No "ON" light, paper curling, poor print of PDF documents, not for printing photos.

Update June 1, 2009 Do not use the MP tray!  I made the mistake of using this to print some legal sized paper documents from my XP laptop and the next day when I tried to print to Tray 1 (default tray) it wouldn't print!!!  Instead ...

Pros: 30 ppm fast, duplexing capabilities, and even the smallest of print is sharp.
Cons: Some house lights dim briefly at times when the printer is warming up.

When my wife's laser printer decided to retire from overwork, I went shopping for another printer for her. Three criteria were at the top of my list for the "new kid" replacement: speed, duplexing capabilities, and ruggedness. At 30 ppm, the Brother ...

Pros: Inexpensive, built-in duplexer, network ready, fast output
Cons: A little noisy

We've owned this printer for about 2.5 months and printed 890 pages to date. I have to say this is a great printer!

Pros:
- It was relatively inexpensive up front
- Toner cartridges promise to be the same (7000 page cartridge for about $75)
- Duplexer equipped to save paper and time
- Network capable (which allows us to print from anywhere in the house)
- Fast output
- Good software that allows several printing options
- Small footprint design
- Memory expandable
- Bulk paper tray expandable

Cons:
The printer is a little noisy but that doesn't bother us, it is not that much louder than an inkjet at full bore. The hardest part was getting my firewalls to accept the new device, but that is not the printers fault.

I bought this for my wife who is taking classes that require a horrendous amount of printing. After going through several ink cartridges, I decided to take the plunge, and thank goodness, we love this printer!

Pros: Easy to set up
Cons: Not Mac friendly. Manual doesn't include Mac in all sections.

This printer is easy to set up and the printer driver installs quickly. BUT the print menu in the Mac does not give you the option of duplex printing (which is why I bought this printer) and the manual is written with instructions for duplex printing ONLY for a Windows operating system. IMHO it is inexcusable to market a product as Mac compatible and then not include instructions for Mac in your manual. I followed instructions such as they are at the Brothers Support website but with no effect. Brothers Support is available M-F during office hours so if you are setting up the printer on a Saturday morning, too bad for you.

Pros: Thing is a cost-effective workhorse. 
Duplexing is great!
Cons: Network setup was not straight-forward. 
Not great at addressing envelopes.

First of all, if you plan to network this baby, you need to know what you're doing or be very persistent.  The setup disk didn't work on my XP machine, and I needed to manually create a connection and set the ISP.  I know very little about computers.  The Brother FAQ and troubleshooter were useless.  But a review I found on this site actually helped me get the problem solved.  So elementary, one would've thought Brother had anticipated it. 

Given the ability to duplex and the declining price of toner from web suppliers, this printer is inexpensive to operate if you print large quantities of black and white docs.