Brother HL-L3210CW Review: Specs, Pros and Cons

Brother has released a line of LED printers in the previous years. The MFC-L3770CDW is known as among the best products of the line, though it comes with a rather expensive price. If you are on a tight budget but need similar features and quality, the Brother HL-L3210CW can be the best option. This laser-class color printer comes with the same paper capacity and volume ratings to support your business.

Coming with the big name of Brother, the HL-L3210CW has much to expect. It is reliable to handle professional documents, including invoices, brochures, and flyers. And yet, Brother cuts some features such as duplex printing and myriads connectivity. Whether you want to buy or not, get to know more about this printer and read the following review.

Small yet Robust Construction

Enjoy the small design and make a new statement in your office interior. The HL-L3210CW comes with a sleek and stylish look to catch attention. Measuring 9.9 by 16.1 by 18.1 inches, the device manages to fit nicely on your small desktop or workstation. This printer weighs around 37.8 pounds, which is rather heavier than it looks. Find the right spot so you don’t need to move it here and there.

Another thing I cannot ignore from this digital printer is the robust construction. It delivers a sturdy and durable build, allowing the printer to work as hard as you do. I found neither flimsy cover nor disturbing rattles when printing, so it can be part of your workgroup.

This device looks simpler without an auto document feeder on its top. You can also find a small section of the control panel with a status LCD and function buttons that include Wi-Fi and power buttons. Two indicator lights are also embedded for easier usage.

The HL-L3210CW is not a true laser printer. Instead, it uses an LED-based machine with LED arrays. But you won’t notice significant differences from this machine as it achieves the same results as laser printers.

Brother HL-L3210CW Print Functionality and More

Brother’s HL-L3210CW comes with the one and only print functionality to help handle your business document. To optimize user experience when operating this machine, it comes with high-volume paper capacity with typical print speed. Here is more about the printer’s print capability.

1. Technology and resolution

As I mentioned earlier, this printer is designed with an LED-based machine that ditches the laser mechanism. But the device performs the same as laser printers so you have nothing to worry about. It is able to deliver sharp black text and rich, vivid colors. The printer supports up to 2400 x 500 resolutions for mono and color printing.

2. Media and paper handling

Despite the HL-L3210CW being designed for home businesses and small offices, it comes with high-volume paper capacity for your ultimate convenience. This printer has a 250-sheet input tray capacity for standard paper as well as a 150-sheet output tray capacity. In addition, the printer is also equipped with a 1-sheet bypass tray. The combination is what you need to increase productivity and work efficiency.

When it comes to media sizes, the paper tray can handle a variety of sizes that range from a letter to folio (8 x 13 inches). Meanwhile, the manual feed lets you print using envelope and custom sizes.

Brother rates this printer at 30,000 pages of monthly duty cycle with 1,500 pages of recommended monthly volume. This wireless printer lacks duplex printing as it is not equipped with an auto document feeder. If you need two-sided pages, you have to flip them manually.

3. Speed and performance

To be honest, I expected too much from this printer, especially for speed and performance. But I finally found that the HL-L3210CW is not the fastest. Brother rates this machine at 19 pages per minute, which is considered low for laser-class printers. The speed slightly reduces to 18 pages per minute for color and mono printing on A4 paper.

When it’s used to print colorful graphics and photos, the speed significantly dropped to the slowest rate at 8.2 pages per minute. This performance is lower than Brother’s HL-3230CDW and HL-L3270CDW. If you plan to print graphic-laden brochures or leaflets, this printer is going to take much of your time.

Legible Text and Good-Looking Photos

My disappointment with the printer’s slow performance is paid off with excellent output quality. As with other laser-class printers engineered by Brother, the HL-L3210CW delivers a well-shaped and legible text for business documents. I also enjoy laser-quality photos with amazing details and rich as well as vivid colors.

However, I am not going to say that Brother’s HL-L3210CW is as excellent as its sibling, Brother MFC-L3770CDW. I found noticeable streaks especially in dark fills such as black, deep green, and deep blue. I also noticed obvious changes from the gradients, instead of smooth flow as resulted by the sibling. If you are going to print brochures or flyers for professional clients, some laser printers can do a better job.

Consumables and Running Cost

Brother ensures the printer’s performance and output quality by providing original and compatible toner cartridges. The cartridges are specially engineered for the HL-L3210CW so it can meet your high standard for business printing. This printer uses four TN-227 toner cartridges consisting of Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow.

Each TN-227 toner cartridge delivers up to 1,000 pages. Brother also provides compatible toner cartridge replacements such as Brother TN-227 High Yield that manages to deliver up to 3000 pages for monochrome and 1,400 for color pages. The manufacturer also provides imaging drum replacement, Brother DR223 laser drum that offers 18,000-page yields.

According to Brother’s math, the HL-L3210CW costs around 2.6 cents per page for mono and 15.6 cents per page for color printing. When you reach 18,000 pages, you will need to replace the drum. It gives an additional 0.7 cent to each print cost, giving you 3.3 cents per black page and 16.3 cents per color page.

These figures, however, are on par with entry-level laser-class printers in its class. The cost per page may be affordable but when you print bulky documents, the cost may surprise you. Despite it offers relatively high duty cycles, this device is suitable for low monthly volume.

Brother HL-L3210CW Connectivity and Software

The standard connectivity includes Wi-Fi(n) and USB 2.0. It lacks Ethernet support, so the connection depends only on the two mentioned earlier. This limited connectivity is reasonable considering the low price it offers. Compared to Brother’s MFC-L3770CDW that comes with myriads connectivity, the HL-L3210CW is surely a step-down.

Having that said, this printer supports mobile printing connectivity such as Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and Mopria. Not to mention Brother’s iPrint&Scan app that makes your printing time more enjoyable. If you are looking for Brother’s cloud app support, sorry to say that it lacks this functionality. It makes the HL-L3210CW different from other Brother’s laser-class printers.

Brother HL-L3210CWPros and Cons

Brother’s laser-class color printer comes with a number of features to improve your printing experience. This machine is specially designed to meet the needs of home-businesses and small offices, though it offers high recommended monthly volume. But I personally think that the HL-L3210CW is far from perfect, so I want you to know my justification.

Brother HL-L3210CW Pros

• Low initial cost

Your small business needs a good printer with a low initial cost so you don’t have to spend much on this thing. The HL-L3210CW is an entry-level printer that is available at an affordable price. This printer is going to be the best partner to expand the business, especially if your printing volume rates at a few hundred pages per month. This is a device to serve you well.

• Small and compact design

For a narrow home office, the HL-L3210CW can be a perfect complement. It delivers a small and compact design, allowing the machine to sit nicely on a small desktop. That said, this printer looks professional with robust construction so it can counterbalance your work pace. Not to mention its white body cover that adds visual interest to the interior.

• Good-looking output quality

Business documents need to be perfect—there’s no tolerance for misshaped characters or illegible text. Thankfully, the HL-L3210CW presents good-looking output quality, as with Brother laser printers. It delivers sharp black texts as well as rich, vivid photos. Printing creative projects, presentations, or invoices are getting easier with this machine.

Brother HL-L3210CW Cons

• Relatively high running cost

If your business is expanding and you need to print a lot of documents each month, this printer might not be a good choice. It comes with a relatively high print cost, as high as 3.3 cents per black page and 16.3 cents per color page added with drum replacement at every 18,000 pages. This rate is not a big deal for low monthly volume, but it’s going to cost you thousand dollars for higher printing volume.

Before choosing this printer, I recommend you to estimate the printing capacity of your office. It’s a good choice if you print a few hundred pages, but it is not friendly if your printing volume is higher.

• Lacks of duplex printing

The HL-L3210CW lacks an auto document feeder, which means you cannot enjoy duplex printing functionality. If you need to print 2-sided pages, you have to flip them manually. This can be a big problem if you print a lot of 2-sided pages at one time. It can decrease your productivity and work efficiency.

• Limited connectivity

Do you need a printer with a lot of connectivity? I am afraid the HL-L3210CW is not a friendly device to meet your requirements. It lacks Ethernet connectivity, alternatively, you can take advantage from its USB port and Wi-Fi. Besides, Brother’s cloud app is not supported in this device, so it’s rather difficult to connect the printer to cloud sites.

Final Verdict

All in all, the Brother HL-L3210CW is a high-quality laser-class printer for home office and small business. This low-budget printing machine serves a number of features to help handle your professional documents. Offering great output quality and high monthly volume, the HL-L3210CW can be a good partner to grow your business.

And yet, high running costs should be taken into consideration. It costs you a lot, especially when you have to print a higher monthly volume. The absence of duplex functionality also becomes an important point to take into account before purchasing this printer. So, will you purchase this printer?