I'm leaning toward buying Brother because ink costs are said to be less expensive than other manufactures. Any one know if this is true?
1023606
I have found Brother printers to be VERY tolerant of aftermarket cartridges compatible with the specific model printer. This aftermarket (non-OEM) ink is very inexpensive, less than $2 per cartridge if you shop carefully on eBay or Amazon.
1023607
We buy the offbrand cartridges and probably pay only about $10 a year for ink. I home school four children and print everyday, usually on fast draft, which uses very little ink. I love our older version/similar Brother printer. And I love not having to mess with Cartridge World. Amazon delivers cheap cartridges to my door.
1023608
That depends. If you run out of any color you can't print in black. You have to use Brother ink cartridges or it won't work. I'm very sorry I bought this.
1023609
I used to have an Epson and now have a Brother and the ink does seem to be a little less expensive for the Brother printer. Even though it suggests you use genuine Brother ink I buy off brand compatible cartridges that are a fraction of the cost and do just a good of a job.
307979
Very. There are two different drivers you can use, one is built in to the OS (CUPS Driver, if that means anything to you, if not, it's not important); the other, downloadable from Brother directly. The driver from Brother may work better in terms of duplexing from some programs, but either is sufficient for all tasks. Brother also has supported Macs for as long as I can remember, and were quick to get updated drivers at every OS upgrade as well. For Macs, I believe Brother probably has the best support of all the major printer manufacturers. EDIT: Just saw the price (689 as of 2/17/14), there are other available models that will also be compatible, and $400 cheaper. Very. There are two different drivers you can use, one is built in to the OS (CUPS Driver, if that means anything to you, if not, it's not important); the other, downloadable from Brother directly. The driver from Brother may work better in terms of duplexing from some programs, but either is sufficient for all tasks. Brother also has supported Macs for as long as I can remember, and were quick to get updated drivers at every OS upgrade as well. For Macs, I believe Brother probably has the best support of all the major printer manufacturers. EDIT: Just saw the price (689 as of 2/17/14),... » Read More Very. There are two different drivers you can use, one is built in to the OS (CUPS Driver, if that means anything to you, if not, it's not important); the other, downloadable from Brother directly. The driver from Brother may work better in terms of duplexing from some programs, but either is sufficient for all tasks. Brother also has supported Macs for as long as I can remember, and were quick to get updated drivers at every OS upgrade as well. For Macs, I believe Brother probably has the best support of all the major printer manufacturers. EDIT: Just saw the price (689 as of 2/17/14), there are other available models that will also be compatible, and $400 cheaper. « Show Less
1081509
As a tech who sees something like 50 to 100 printers a week for the last few years, i personally like them. They are tough and durable, don't have alot of minor things that go wrong with them that will take them down to non operational, easy to work on and print a nice crisp page. The brothers in general are a good machine, softwares are designed primarily for windows but works well with it. If your computer drags of course your printer functions will. Learn to take care of your machines and they will perform as intended.If you get one, download a pdf of the service manual and you will learn how to avoid many expenses of running these that will please your wallet greatly. As a tech who sees something like 50 to 100 printers a week for the last few years, i personally like them. They are tough and durable, don't have alot of minor things that go wrong with them that will take them down to non operational, easy to work on and print a nice crisp page. The brothers in general are a good machine, softwares are designed primarily for windows but works well with it. If your computer drags of course your printer functions will. Learn to take care of your machines and they will perform as intended.If you get one, download a pdf of the service manual and you... » Read More As a tech who sees something like 50 to 100 printers a week for the last few years, i personally like them. They are tough and durable, don't have alot of minor things that go wrong with them that will take them down to non operational, easy to work on and print a nice crisp page. The brothers in general are a good machine, softwares are designed primarily for windows but works well with it. If your computer drags of course your printer functions will. Learn to take care of your machines and they will perform as intended.If you get one, download a pdf of the service manual and you will learn how to avoid many expenses of running these that will please your wallet greatly. « Show Less
1291847
I have no clue about the cost, but I know that using the off brands created problems for my Canon printers. I get great results with the Canon ink, but have never tried to figure out the cost per sheet. I almost never print 4 X 6 pictures. Ivie Bellone
1600499
I don't think I'm the right person to answer your question. I purchased cartridges for a brother printer and had no issues.
1748061
You should ask Brother about that. It depends on a lot of factors, like how much ink goes onto each page, how old the cartridge is, and others. Bottom line is that I find laser printing far cheaper per sheet than ink-jet.
306687
I have to agree with A. Geib I bumped up the phyical memory, used quality paper printed at the highest resolution and got very good resultsIt is abit slow on the first thing printing and sounds like a jet when I turn it on, but it was worth the money so far, I also have a Brotherat work and its a workhorse.I've used HP's Lexmark, Cannon, Epson it compares to them all, the interesting thing for me is watching the sell price move up and downI may start tracking it for fun.
215079
Since we bought the printer for our engineering office last October, we have printed 1495 pages, 1116 of which had at least some color content, though only about 150 of those had large color pictures, the rest were mostly black and white drawings with a few color graphics and lines. We are still using the original color toner cartridges that came with the printer, and they are are all 2/3 full. We used up the black starter toner cartridge that came with the printer, plus we have used up about 45% of a TN-221BK black toner cartridge. Brother claims that the TN-221BK cartridge will print 2500 pages, and the TN-225C, M and Y cartridges will print 2200 pages. I paid $283 for a four pack of toner cartridges, one black and three color high-yield Brother brand cartridges. But it looks like I will mostly be buying black toner cartridges at $60 each. While not cheap, it is a heck of a lot cheaper per page than using ink jet printers, plus the printer is faster and quieter than ink jet printers, and the print quality is great. Plus there are no print heads to clog, which eventually killed most of the ink jet printers I've owned. Also, if the toner is not completely used up when the printer says it is you can reset the cartridge and keep printing until the cartridge is empty.
1252621
Hi Mike ~ I did a lot of research before making my purchase; I would say go for it, I simply put in my model printer and went with the best bang for the buck and I'm soooooo glad I did and trust me, this is the only way I'll be buying my ink� hope this helped!
36999
If you buy this printer, you may pay $60/every 2 week.I'm serious. So I rebuy Brother printer.
1368299
I'm using generic ink with no problems. I don't print that much so I don't know about the printer using a lot of ink. Anyway I can get 4 ink cartridges, one of each color and black for less than $14 mailed to me with free shipping, so I don't worry about ink usage. I love this printer / copier. No more running to the library to make copies. Hope this info helps....
1655233
thanks for the quick response. could you post the link of where to learn about taping the cartridges or suggest what to google. My lexmark requires a computer chip to be replaced to refill the toner. Each chip is $20 which bumps up the refill cost to close to $250. That's almost what I paid for it. I love my old Brother B&W; MFC and have had good luck with it. So I'm looking to combine the Lexmark and old brother MFC. I'm almost sold on this unit. Just don't want to end up in the same situation as my lexmark. thanks again & enjoy the new printer!
67934
yes it is, I've also found that it was resourceful to buy the ink refill kit instead of recycling or replacing the cartridge itself...it's somewhat messy and for some reason the printer still reads replace the toner but that's an issue that Brother needs to address with the printer function, everything else works as it should.
1182786
This is my opinion only. When it comes to supplies for something I depend on I use the manufacturer's labels. I've never used the aftermarket ones. In my Brother laser I use just Brother toner. In my Canon laser I opted to use the lesser cost aftermarket toner but haven't formed an opinion on that yet.
1720560
Yeah, pretty frustrating if you ask me....especially when you consider the Epson paper is typically more expensive. O-Max is having a sale now for Buy 1 Get 1 on HP paper but it doesn't make sense for me to buy any if it isn't going to be any better than the Kodak paper.
786238
If you buy this from third-party sellers, you may not receive an actual Brother manufactured 450 page yield cartridge. Ink cartridge is one category of product that seems to have very shady dealers. Instead, make sure you buy ink cartridges directly from Amazon.com...not just "Fulfilled by Amazon". In the right-hand column, there are other buying options. Amazon.com is listed there.
1483649
I'm not sure - I've had this printer well over a year - but the ink goes quickly if you tend to do a lot of printing. Call brother 1800# and inquire with them.