On a whim, I purchased a $50, refurbished Brother laser printer (2170W) a couple of weeks ago. It came across SlickDeals, and as everyone knows, good deals on SlickDeals are SOOO hard to pass up. :) What sold me on the printer was its wireless b/g capabilities, so I would be able to place it anywhere in the house.

In my read of things, Brother printers are the economy brand. Those wanting the top-of-the-line go with HP, Epson, or other brands. But hey, a wireless laser for $50? That’s a great deal no matter what company it comes from.
And guess what? I’ve been incredibly impressed with the printer. It is fast and makes clean and crisp pages. In fact, I like it much better than other printers I’ve had. So yesterday I jumped even further in and replaced my Epson color laser with a wireless Brother color laser (4070CDW). This one even has duplexing (two sided printing).
I had been looking for a new color laser ever since the Epson’s photoconductor wore out. The Epson never worked that great — it was a very expensive, all-in-one color printer. But it always printed streak lines in pages. And the ink cartridges spilled inside the printer too easily. And they were too difficult to replace. To replace one of the four ink cartridges, I had to use the menu to rotate a wheel inside the printer that they were connected to. Installation was one cartridge at a time.
Contrast that with my new Brother color laser. It is the model of simplicity in design. To install all the color cartridges, I simply pull out a tray that holds all four. They sit right in line with each other.
The color printing quality is awesome. Crisp and clean. Pictures are not as good as my ink jet, but that’s true of any ink jet vs. laser. In fact, in my opinion, that’s the only thing ink jets are good for — pictures. Lasers beat them at everything else, including price. Lasers might be more expensive when you buy them, but a B&W laser ink cartridge lasts forever and costs much less in the long run.
Brother is my new favorite laser company. The two printers I have are designed in a simple, straightforward fashion. When it comes to technology, that’s what makes things work well. I’ll report again in a few months to see if long-term use of the printers changes my attitude or not.