Brother's Color LED Printer Makes Home Offices Look Pro

If you liked the Brother HL-3070CW digital printer, you'll like the HL-3075CW, which is pretty much the same printer, only a bit faster and a lot more expensive. In terms of speed, first pages out weren't all that fast, but subsequent pages were right where they should be, and quality was excellent. For a printer that sells for under $300, it's a very good deal.

No real surprises in terms of speed for Brother's LED printer. First pages are pretty slow to get started, at least over wireless networks; Brother's brochure claims 15 seconds for monochrome and 16 seconds for color pages, but in my tests first pages took nearly 25 seconds. That's not great speed, nor is it widely worse than many laser printers. The good news is that once that first page is done, subsequent pages are out in about three seconds per page, which is right where they should be.

What that means is that you can expect an eight-page PDF to take about 48 seconds to print, and a four-page Word document to take about 34 seconds. That's decent speed for a laser printer, so just be patient for that first page. Frankly it's rare that laser printers don't take a bit of time to warm up and get the first page printed, but some manufacturers have found ways to make it happen.

Again, no surprises for the HL-3075. Print quality is uniformly excellent, and even color graphics looked excellent--which is not always the case with color laser or LED printers. Black fonts should always look crisp and clear with laser and LED printers, at any font size, and the HL-3075CW did not disappoint. One thing to keep in mind is that if you want projects to look their best, and particularly if you plan to hand prints out in a meeting, spend the money to get good paper made for laser printers. Cheaper paper will definitely curl, though it tends to flatten out a bit after a while. Still, it's worth the investment if you intend to use prints for professional purposes.

There's no fax, scanner, or copy function here--the Brother HL-3075CW is a single function printer that's aimed at small and home businesses who need to print jobs in color. The only add-ons you'll find here are wired and wireless networking, a PictBridge USB slot up front, and some some secure printing resources. Wi-Fi was easily set up and worked without any issues. The paper tray has a 250-sheet capacity which is not enormous but should be big enough for most print jobs. There's a toner-save mode that allows printing with less toner, which will help prevent the need for changing toner cartridges (which can be pricey) very often.

If you want an all-in-one laser or LED printer, or if you need additional functionality, this is probably not the best choice for you. To be honest, all-in-one color laser or LED printers are still not that common, and certainly not in this price range (though one exception to that rule is the HP LaserJet Pro CM1415FNW, which does pretty much everything and still manages to cost under $400). Color laser and LED printers are still primarily for printing--and that is a point in favor of cheaper-to-buy but more-expensive-to-run inkjet printers, which are getting faster and starting to rival laser and LED printers for quality. Case in point: The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus, which is certainly a rival to color laser and LED printers.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.