My old HP LaserJet III gave up the ghost around three months ago. I loved that old printer – reasonably fast, cheap to run and a real workhorse.

HP were very high on my list when looking for a replacement. To my absolute horror, it would appear that HP have more or less priced themselves out of the SO/HO market. A new printer was likely to set me back a minimum of £500.

After a quick re-think, I decided on a budget of £400 max. This narrowed the options somewhat and in the end it was a toss-up between a few Samsungs or Brother printers.

The spec on the HL-1250 easily matched that of the Samsungs and I felt that Brother was a more established name in this sector. I happily parted with my £240 thinking I would spend the remainder on toner, as I am a heavy user.

To date, I have not been disappointed with the Brother. In the box you get:

- 3000 page life toner (now still going strong after at least that many pages)
- The Printer (complete with 4mb RAM and 66mhz Processor)
- Driver disk (CD)
- Some vague set-up instructions (An A3 sheet folded)

The printer has two connection options – USB or Parallel – nether of these cables is supplied – I bought my own USB cable for £12.

Set-up is very easy indeed – pull off the tape and card etc, load the toner, install the driver and away you go.

I chose the USB interface as I felt it would be quicker than parallel and easier to switch the printer between my laptop and desktop pc. In reality, I rarely use the Brother direct with the laptop as the now free parallel port allows me to use lap link and print via that application.

The Brother is fast, and economical – I bought a 6000 page toner as a back up for around £40 over the net – easily obtainable and very reasonably priced when compared with HP etc.

Print quality is superb 600 x 600 Dpi output is crisp and clear. Pictures and type easi
ly surpass newspaper quality for example.

The printer has a “sleep” option which means is only “wakes” when you are printing – I suppose this is a widely used feature these days, but in the case of my old HP, it was always on whether idle or not so I really notice the difference now.

Paper loading is quick and easy – 250 sheets drop into a front mounted slide out tray – and a feature I love – a little indicator bar shows how much paper is left in the cassette.

There is a front mounted single sheet feeder for envelopes etc and so far this has worked well.

Another difference from my old HP is paper jams – I have not had one yet! With the HP it was happening daily.

This printer was not only a third of the cost of an HP; it is also streets ahead in terms of page costs, paper transport and footprint – only 50% wider than an A4 sheet.

Occasionally, I have “freezes” mid print job and I feel this may well be a USB issue rather than the printer itself. On the whole, I am thoroughly pleased and quids in!

My advice is to give Brother a go, you can`t go far wrong at this price.