*** Back from hot and sunny West Africa!! Wonderful trip!! Will be posting some reviews later this...
*** Back from hot and sunny West Africa!! Wonderful trip!! Will be posting some reviews later this next week hopefully. ***
Member since:29.10.2002
Reviews:37
Members who trust:31
When I was attending university, I remembered wondering what type of sport I might like to try. Going down through the list of ones available, I quickly realized that I was not big enough or tall enough to play most of the ones currently on offer. However, there was one that certainly sounded intriguing and that was Greco-Roman wrestling. Being in what I felt was pretty good shape at the time, I decided to try out for the team.
Picture the moment as I enter the training area all suited up and waiting for my first opponent on the mat. With a few people onlooking the scene, the coach signalled that we were to shake hands and prepare to wrestle. The guy looked about my size and I figured he didn't have but a few pounds on me. My arm and leg muscles certainly seemed larger than the guy opposite me, so I safely presumed that I could take him on and beat him quite handily. The bell rang and the wrestling match was on.
Now, at this point you may be wondering what in the world this has to do with a review on printers!! Well, I am glad you asked. You see there are actually several similarities between my experience in the ring and the latest addition to my printer
collection. For those of you who have read my other reviews, you will know that I have written on the Brother HL-1230 as well as the Hewlett Packard HP4. So what are these similarities:
1. Like myself in the ring for the first time, most printers are sized up like one sizes up an opponent. If you are bigger, and heavier, and have more muscles, you automatically assume that you will be the best. When I decided to go out looking for a new laser printer, I used the same method at first and shopped for something that I felt was going to be a real monster that could obviously beat up the competition. The printer I eventually settled on is made by Brother and is the HL-2030 model. It is not colour, but prints in black or grey-scale only. My new machine is small enough to fit on just about any size workstation or even a small shelf and unlike the HL-1230 that I own, it is fully contained in its own footprint with no paper trays sticking out the back requiring more room.
2. As I quickly found out in my first match, looks are definitely deceiving but not before it was too late to rethink my own strategy for winning. I was wearing a colourful outfit while my opponent was wearing a simple, single-coloured garment. So too, with the printer I was looking for, I realized that fancy was not important and was pleased when I took the box containing my Brother HL-2030 home and set it up in my office. I took it out and took a few moments to admire the stylish design. Gadgets and gizmos do not make for a perfect fighting machine in your office. The HL-2030 is simple to use and prints A4, legal, and will even do envelopes in a pinch.
3. With hardly a grunt, my opponent moved in a speed that was similar to greased lightning and I found myself involved in the additional sport of breakdancing - that is to say, breaking my neck trying to dance out of his way before I got pinned to the floor! So back to the printer as it comes out of the box - it hardly makes much more noise than the occasional grunt as it settles down to get the job done in a most efficient manner. It was a snap to simply plug the machine in, follow the simple instructions on the menu-driven installation CD, and in just about 5 minutes, I was pinning my first document to the mat. The little machine was impressive as it quickly started punching out documents at up to 16ppm.
4. In addition, I found that my opponent had not fallen into the trap that I had. He relied on the skills that he was good at in order to gain the advantage instead of trying various fancy tactics in order to try and win the day. He came to the mat prepared to win no matter what I or anybody else thought of him. As I looked at my printer, I realized that it was quite similar and was prepared to tackle several jobs with the ease not found in other similarly priced laser printers. It works just as easily with PC's as well as Apples (which is convenient as I am getting ready to switch to a Mini-Mac!!).
5. As I faced my opponent in the wrestling match, I quickly realized that the reservoir of special features I could bring to the mat were not adequate enough to handle the task of nailing this guy to the floor. As I sit here and admire my HL-2030, there are plenty of additional features that are more than adeuqate enough to win the day for most home and small business offices. These include a 250 sheet paper tray and the ability to print in high quality format which is 2400dpi x 600dpi. The machine also comes with a USB connector which makes it that much easier to use with any machine including a quick connect to that laptop for printing off the latest report or whatever.
Well to conclude, if you have not guessed by now despite my sad attempts at both breakdancing and Greco-Roman wrestling, I realized as I lay pinned to the mat that I well out of my league. He may have looked smaller than me and did not have my flashy stule or technizes, but he knew what I did not and that was he did not need those things in order to win the day. Needless to say, I decided that Greco-Roman wrestling was not for me and after complimenting my opponent, I changed and left never looking back.
Brother machines may not be the flashiest, the heaviest or have all the neatest buttons and gadgest, but it will get the job done for you. A purchase well worth the less than £95 that I paid for my mine. In fact, since purchasing my first one, my business partner and I purchased one for use in our busines premises and he also purchased one for his own home. It is clearly a winner not only in its own weight range but can even stand up and pin many of the more expensive black and white laser printers that you could get stuck with. Consumables like toner cartridges can be purchased at less than £50 if you look around and will print depending on amount of ink used as much as 7000 copies and the drum is good for up to 15,000 copies.
Oh, one other note - no other printers were harmed in the writing of this review!
Summary: Brothers are good machines and for what they offer, my money will remain with them!
I also write under the same name for DooYoo. Thanks for reading.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Funny wrestling stuff. Im no expert on printers, but that review well deserved a VH. x x x
1lentz 06.11.2006 12:52
What an interesting review! Sounds like I just might need to invest in this printer! I like the way you presented it as in a wrestling match. Very well done!
Advantages: Cheap and cheerful... does it's job quickly & relatively quietly Disadvantages: erm... thought it had network connectivity but not so sure now
stewtee 15.03.2006 (15.03.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Brother HL 2030
Advantages: Cheap and cheerful... does it's job quickly & relatively quietly Disadvantages: erm... thought it had network connectivity but not so sure now
stewtee 15.03.2006 (15.03.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Brother HL 2030
Nov 6th, 2006
exceptional by (7%):
very helpful by (71%):
helpful by (21%):
