Brother HL-L2460DW Compact Mono Laser Printer vs HP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer

What separates them

These two differ on 8 recorded specifications. The HP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer is $50.00 dearer. They are different kinds of product — mono laser printer against ink tank mfp — so read the table as two spec sheets rather than a like-for-like.

Brother HL-L2460DW Compact Mono Laser Printer vs HP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer

Brother

Brother HL-L2460DW Compact Mono Laser Printer

$149.99

Brother does not lock its cartridges by firmware, which is the practical difference from the HP equivalents -- compatible TN760 toner is widely available and the printer will use it.

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HP

HP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer

$199.99

Refillable tanks rather than cartridges is what changes the arithmetic: a bottle set covering roughly 6,000 black and 8,000 color pages costs about as much as one laser cartridge.

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Who the Brother HL-L2460DW Compact Mono Laser Printer is for

Buy it if: Desks that need fast reliable mono printing and nothing else.

Avoid it if: Anyone who needs to scan or copy, which this cannot do at all.

Who the HP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer is for

Buy it if: Home offices printing color regularly and wanting the lowest cost per color page.

Avoid it if: Sites that print in bursts weeks apart, where a laser will not clog and this will.

Specifications, side by side

8 of 15 rows differ. Differences first.

SpecificationBrother HL-L2460DW Compact Mono Laser PrinterHP Smart Tank 5101 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer
Price$149.99$199.99
ConnectivityEthernet, Wi-Fi and USBWi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB
Cost per pageAbout 3 cents on TN760, excluding drum and paperAbout 0.5 cents mono and 1.5 cents color, excluding paper
DuplexAutomatic two-sided printingManual only
Duty cycleUp to 20,000 pages a month maximumUp to 3,000 pages a month maximum
Print resolution1200 x 1200 dpi1200 x 1200 dpi black, 4800 x 1200 dpi color
Print speedUp to 36 ppm, Letter monoUp to 12 ppm mono, 5 ppm color, draft
Rated powerAbout 550 W printing, 0.6 W in sleepAbout 12 W printing
Warranty1-year limited warranty1-year limited hardware warranty
Document feeder not publishedNone -- flatbed glass only
Drum unitDR730, about 15,000 pages, replaced separately not published
Input tray250 sheets not published
Page yield per refill not publishedAbout 6,000 black and 8,000 color pages
Recommended volumeUp to 2,000 pages a month not published
Replacement cartridgeBrother TN760, about 3,000 pages, or TN730, about 1,200 not published
Replacement ink not publishedHP 32XL black and HP 31 color bottles

Every row is a figure one or both products record. A blank is a figure the catalogue does not hold, not a zero.

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