Customer Reviews

Brother HL-5170DN Network Laser Printer

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to agree with the other review and say that this is a great printer. For about nine months now I have been using this printer in an office where it is networked to 6 PCs. Everyone in the office is pleased with the speed and quality of the print jobs handled by this machine. I also agree that this printer's main strength is as a "network" printer. It is easily connected to your network and can be left "ready and waiting" all the time.

About the only downside to this thing is that if you haven't sent a print job in a while (like overnight) it takes the printer a good while to warm up (10-15 seconds). Once it is warmed up though, it really cranks the pages out fast.

If you have a need for a solid quality, networked printer that has some high end print features, this is the machine for you!

We purchased this printer for a home office with both Macs and PCs. This printer has terrific Macintosh OSX support and is easily monitored/controlled using it's website interface (automatically appears in Safari's bookmarks toolbar if you turn on the Safari Rendezvous preference). This printer is very fast to warm up and prints the first page in about 10 seconds. I like that it is absolutely silent when in standby mode and wakes/sleeps on its own. My only problem is that I haven't yet determined if there's a better way to switching duplex printing on/off other than via the web control panel.

This is a decent printer for what you get. The main feature I use is the network connection. I easily connected it to my network in the other room where it was convenient, and leave it turned on and plugged in all the time. It uses very little power when on standby. Then, when I want to print, I can do it from any machine in the house and very quickly (I think in 10 seconds) it starts churning out the pages.

It has lots of hidden features you have to pay more for with other printers. You can configure it with a web interface. It is postscript/pcl compatible and I think it'll work with linux if you mess around with it.

I also have a canon inkjet printer which is very good for photos, but I don't use it anywhere near as often because I have to plug it into my apple laptop, turn it on, load the photo paper and (sometimes) do a cleaning cycle.

The brother printer is just always there ready to print within 10 seconds. It's like the difference between logging into your ISP with dialup and having always-connected dsl.

This printer represents a remarkable value. It is well made, and it does everything as advertised.

Set-up is a breeze, and the documentation is put togeter well.

I still can't believe that I was able to purchase a network capable, automatic duplexing, PostScript compatible laser printer for this price.

Highly recommended.

After being very pleased with my Brother MFC-8220 laser fax/printer , I bought the Brother HL-5170DN for my office. I'm somewhat disappointed in that the printer has ocassional trouble handling envelopes. It will frequently jam.

Also, while it installs smoothly and easily into Windows XP, and works conveniently with the controls in MS Word (2003), it is awkward to set printer paper controls from within WorkPerfect 11.

Perhaps Brother engineers should look into a better control interface.

Otherwise, it is a fast and quality printer.

My review is limited to print capabilities: I bought the 5170 and the extra tray for the sole purpose of printing mortgage documents which alternate between legal and letter paper. This machine will not perform this function automatically. I write this review because I wish I had known this. I know other printer's exist which will perform this function. Live and learn.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the Brother HL-5170DN, which I have set up in my home network of Macs and Windows computers. Print quality is crisp and it's plenty fast for a home network environment. I had to ding the printer for two reasons. The D and the N in the part number tout the two big features in this printer, namely duplex printing, and networking. This printer won't support duplex printing on Macs, and my network setup for Windows wasn't a smooth ride.

Mac users can't take advantage of the auto-duplex printing feature. You'll have to look deep in the owner's manual (which is only available as a .pdf on the CD) to find the notations that there are a host of functions not supported on the Mac, including duplex printing. So much for the "D" if you're a Mac user.

As for networking, I got the printer set up on the Macs pretty easily. I simply followed the Quick Setup Guide and was up in running in no time. When I turned to the section for setting up Windows computers, I was confronted with a note: "If you are going to connect the printer to your network, we recommend that you contact your system administrator prior to installation." Hmm. Around my house, that's me. I wasn't amused when the Quick Setup Guide proceeded to guide "LPR Users" and "NetBIOS Users" in different directions. After guessing incorrectly with the NetBIOS route, I ended up doubling back and going with LPR. Couldn't Brother make this a little easier on us home network users who don't have IT guys waiting in the wings to help us?

Deduct one star for the denying Mac users the duplex printing function, and deduct one star for the rough ride through the Windows setup. Now that it's running, however, I'm a happy camper.

I can only use it as a PC printer because it crashes my windows 98 PC if i try to print when it's connected to the router. Duplex printing takes longer than printing on one side and then fliping the paper over for the next side. Otherwise, it seems to work well. The best thing about it is that i can get toner from[...] for $20 a refill instead of spending $60 on the cartridge. I've used the same cartridge and drum with about 10 refills so far. I get about 3,000 pages per refill, which is supposed to be the same amount of ink as a large cartridge. The only difference between brother's large and small cartridges (with different part numbers) is a different label and more ink inside the large cartridge. So get the small cartridge and buy the ink in bulk. Really, the ink business is such a rip off, there should be some laws. Important: Do not do refill work inside your house. Just trust me on that.

The machine is fast. The two flaws are:

1. the paper jams and curls frequently

2. the ink is not as bold as the inkjet.

I bought the printer for faster and cheaper printing (use a lot of inkjet cartridges) since I do my own printing for classwork (school teacher).

I'm a computer consultant specializing in the Mac platform. Two different clients of mine already had this printer for over a year and both were happy with it.

I must say that it works nicely with both Macs and Windows PCs. Just load the drivers from the CD and go. Very nice print speed and quality. The duplexing and toner saver is excellent for saving resources. I also like the clever manual feed tray for checks and envelopes. The choice between Ethernet and USB tops off the cake.