Brother

Brother HL-L2460DW

Mono laserTonerBrother Refresh EZ Print

Thirty-six pages a minute out of a fifteen-pound box is the fastest pages-per-pound figure in this catalogue, and this is the model in Brother's small-laser range that stops compromising: automatic duplex and dual-band Wi-Fi and Gigabit-class Ethernet, rather than choosing two of the three. For a family printer that has to serve laptops, phones and a wired desktop, that is the whole argument, and the chassis is the same one the cheaper models use, so it takes no more space. The toner story is unchanged and remains the thing to price in. A 700-page starter ships in the box, the TN830XL replacement is $98.29 for 3,000 pages, and the machine will have consumed more than its purchase price in toner within about six thousand pages.

Approx. price: ~$179
Cost per mono page: 3.3¢
Cost to own, 5,000 pages: ~$343
Print speed, mono: 36 ISO ppm

Best for

A shared household or small-office mono laser that has to print fast from every device in the house.

marks an estimate. Computed from the consumable's ISO page yield and its list price. An estimate. Purchase price plus ink or toner over the pages shown, assuming four mono pages for every colour page. Price is an approximate snapshot from our last catalogue update.

What it costs to own

Black consumable: Brother TN830XL high-yield toner · 3,000 ISO pages · ~$98.29
Cost per mono page: 3.3¢
Cost to own, 5,000 pages: ~$343
Cost to own, 200 pages/month for 3 years: ~$415 (7,200 pages)

Computed from the consumable's ISO page yield and its list price. An estimate. How this is worked out

Cost to own · 5,000 pages

Brother HL-L2460DW~$343
~$179 printer + ~$164 supplies
Brother DCP-L2640DW~$373
~$209 printer + ~$164 supplies
Brother HL-L2405W~$303
~$139 printer + ~$164 supplies

purchase priceink or toner. An estimate: purchase price plus 5,000 pages at each printer’s computed cost per page, assuming 4 mono pages for every colour page. Printers whose consumable price we could not source are left out.

Specifications

Manufacturer-published figures. Cost lines are computed from the consumable figures above and are estimates.

Approx. price: ~$179
Cost per mono page: 3.3¢
Cost to own, 5,000 pages: ~$343
Cost to own, 3 years: ~$415
Technology: Laser
Ink system: Toner
Inks: 1
Black consumable: Brother TN830XL high-yield toner · 3,000 pages
Ink in the box: 700 pages
Third-party ink lock: No
Ink subscription: Brother Refresh EZ Print
Print speed, mono: 36 ISO ppm
First page out: 8.5 s
Functions: Print
Two-sided printing: Auto
Document feeder: None
Paper capacity: 250 sheets
Max paper size: Legal
Borderless photo: No
Resolution: 1200 × 1200 dpi
Connectivity: Wi-Fi · Ethernet
Mobile printing: AirPrint · Mopria
Display: None
Dimensions: 14.0 × 14.2 × 7.2 in
Weight: 15.6 lb
Released: 2023

Features

36 ppm with automatic two-sided printing
Wired Ethernet and dual-band Wi-Fi
1200 × 1200 dpi output
250-sheet tray plus a manual feed slot
Same 15.6 lb chassis as the slower models in the range

Auto duplex No ink lock Ethernet

In its favour

Fastest small mono laser here at 36 ppm
Duplex, Wi-Fi and Ethernet together, rather than picking two
Same compact chassis as the cheaper models despite the speed
Prints reliably after long idle periods, as lasers do
No firmware block on third-party toner

Against it

About 3.3¢ a page on genuine toner — the number that decides whether a laser was cheap
700-page starter cartridge in the box
Print only: no scanner, no copier
No control panel display at all

What owners say

Distilled from owner discussions and long-term published reviews

If one printer is the internet's default recommendation, it is this one, and on the core job it earns that: a fast, reliable, black-and-white laser that works on the first page after a month in a cupboard, with duplex and both kinds of network connection.

The dissenting reports are worth reading before buying, because they are specific rather than vague. Owners describe firmware updates going wrong, admin passwords printed on the machine not being accepted, and lockouts that took support calls to resolve. Others describe wireless dropouts. And several report that after updating, third-party toner stopped working — which for a printer chosen partly because Brother did not do that is a meaningful betrayal.

None of it makes the recommendation wrong. It makes it narrower: buy it for black-and-white documents, connect it by Ethernet if you can, and price genuine toner before assuming it is the cheap option.

What owners like

The most-recommended home printer in general discussion, and owners who print black-and-white documents in bursts broadly agree with the recommendation
Duplex, dual-band Wi-Fi and Ethernet together, which nothing cheaper in the range manages
36 ppm from a 15-pound box, and owners notice the speed
Wired Ethernet sidesteps the wireless complaints that dominate this category
Prints reliably after months of disuse

Common complaints

Owners report firmware update procedures being genuinely hostile — admin passwords that do not match the label on the printer, and lockouts that require support calls
Recent firmware rejecting third-party toner is reported here as elsewhere in the range
Genuine toner is expensive enough that the purchase price is misleading
Print only: owners wanting a scanner need the DCP-L2640DW
Wi-Fi setup and 'offline' states still frustrate owners despite the Ethernet option

Questions that keep coming up

Is it really the best home printer?

For printing black-and-white documents from a machine that may sit unused for weeks, it is very hard to beat and the recommendation is well earned. It is not the cheapest to run — a tank printer is roughly eight times cheaper per page — and it does not print colour or scan at all. The recommendation is right for a specific job, not universally.

What goes wrong with the firmware?

Owners report update processes that demand an admin password, reject the default printed on the machine, and lock the printer out — some needing support to resolve. Others report third-party toner ceasing to work after an update. Neither is universal, but both are reported often enough that people advise against updating firmware unless there is a specific reason.

How much does toner actually cost?

A genuine high-yield TN830XL is $98.29 at Brother's own price for 3,000 pages, which is about 3.3¢ a page. That is far cheaper than a cartridge inkjet and far more expensive than a refillable tank printer. The cartridge in the box is a 700-page starter, so the first real purchase comes quickly.

Does it scan?

No. It is print-only. The DCP-L2640DW is the same 36 ppm engine with a flatbed scanner and a 50-sheet document feeder for about thirty dollars more, and the MFC-L2820DW adds a fax and a colour touchscreen on top of that.

Computed from the consumable's ISO page yield and its list price. An estimate. Owner notes are a summary of what people who own the machine report, not a test result — there is no lab behind this site.