On January 20, Brother International released a series of monochrome laser printers and all-in-ones for office, workgroup, and higher-volume print environments. The launch, which is a refresh of the firm’s laser product line, is said by Brother to be the largest and most in-depth in the company’s history.
The new L5000 and L6000 series consists of seven printers; six All-in-One devices that print, copy, scan and fax; and three copy, scan and fax devices that Brother refers to as DCPs. According to Brother the devices, targeted toward the midsize business, offer faster print speeds, more flexible paper-handling capabilities, advanced scanning capabilities, convenient mobility features, and access to business cloud services.
“Knowing the business user is focused on results, we created this next generation of printers and All-in-Ones to dependably and consistently perform with the features and functionality needed to improve and enhance workflow,” said Steve Feldstein, Brother International Corporation’s Director of Marketing – Business Laser & Scanner Products.
The devices are also designed to connect with most mobile device technologies, including AirPrint, Mopria and Google Cloud Print, and most have a touchscreen display allowing for access to the Brother Web Connect interface. This allows connectivity to many standard cloud services including Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Evernote and OneNote, as well as SharePoint, SSH Server and Network Folder.
The majority of the devices have a standard paper capacity of 300 pages, upgradable to 1,340 pages. The HL-L6200DW and HL-L6300DW printers, and the MFC-L6700DW and MFC-L6800DW all-in-ones have a standard capacity of 570 pages, upgradable to 1,610 pages, while the HL-L5200DWT printer offers a 520 sheet tray, bringing its standard/maximum capacity to 820/1,340 pages, and the HL-L6200DWT offers a second 520-sheet tray, giving it a 1,090/1,340 standard/maximum capacity.
The speeds on the new lineup are a standout feature, and one that Brother is touting as a major selling point. They are certainly some of the speediest devices we have seen in the class — up to 42 ppm for the bulk of the lineup, while the three 6200 series printers and the L6700DW and L6800DW AiO report speeds up to 48 ppm. Brother points to the HL-L6300DW printer and the MFC-L6800DW AiO as being targeted toward businesses with higher print and scan volumes.
In addition to the features and speeds, Feldstein cites the price points as key to the value of the lineup. The L6800DW and L6700DW AiOs are the priciest of the lot, with street prices of $599 and $699, respectively. The remaining four AiOs range from $349 to $449; the printers range from $199 to $399; and the DCPs range from $299 to $399.
Although we have not seen a full listing of supplies for the devices, it appears some ship with an 8,000-page cartridge, and for some a 12,000-page cartridge is available. The one device available on Brother’s website as of this writing, the HL-L6200DW, shows available supplies that include a standard-yield 3,000-page cartridge, a high-yield 8,000-page cartridge, and a super-high-yield 12,000 page cartridge, as well as a drum cartridge rated for 30,000 pages at one page per job, and 50,000 pages at three pages per job. With a list price on BrotherMall.com of $149.99, the 12,000-page super-high-yield cartridge would result in an impressively low cost per page for the printer that would presumably be similar across other devices utilizing the cartridge.
The devices, according to Feldstein, are not necessarily designed to replace enterprise-level A3 devices, but rather to complement them. This is part of Brother’s mission to “right-size” businesses when it comes to printing and falls in line with its “Don’t Supersize, Optimize” campaign launched in late 2014 targeted toward SMBs and encouraging balanced deployment.
With high duty cycles (the HL-6200DW is rated for a maximum 100,000 pages per month) and low cost per page, the devices, which will be available through Brother authorized resellers, would likely be an excellent fit for MPS programs. Brother is staggering the release of the devices, rolling them out between now and March.
“Brother has long focused on business,” said Feldstein. “Now, our fleet of business-centric machines has been expanded to include features and functionality ideal for workgroups.”
