Brother HL-L8570CDW: sharp color prints, varied consumables

Brother has added the HL-L8570CDW to its 8XXX series of business color laser printers aimed at workgroups and small businesses. The single-function model prints at a rated 31 pages per minute, supports duplex at about 20 images per minute, and ships with high-yield XXL toner cartridges.

The HL-L8570CDW connects via 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi or gigabit Ethernet and includes a 6.8cm color touchscreen and a front USB slot for direct printing. The printer measures 338 x 404 x 473mm and weighs about 21kg.

Standard paper handling is a 250-sheet main cassette plus a 50-sheet multipurpose tray. The unit accepts additional 250- or 520-sheet cassettes and can be expanded to a maximum capacity of 1,340 sheets for larger workgroups or multiple paper types.

Brother supplies the HL-L8570CDW with XXL toners in the box and supports four toner sizes: standard, XL, XXL and 10,000-page super-jumbo cartridges. Long-life service parts are available, including a waste toner bottle and drum kit rated at 50,000 pages and a fuser and transfer belt each rated for 100,000 pages. The range of consumables and parts can require additional tracking for in-house maintenance.

Measured running costs using the largest toners are about 0.9p (ex VAT) per black page and 6.8p per color page. Including projected costs for lifetime consumables and parts raises those figures to roughly 1.0p for black and 7.1p for color.

Performance testing produced a first black page in about 12 seconds and a 25-copy text run at 26.8ppm. A 50-page text job printed at an effective 29.7ppm. Color jobs were slower: first color page at roughly 16 seconds and a complex 24-page document at approximately 21.2ppm. Duplex printing used a method that delays the first output sheet; a 10-page color duplex job ran at about 11.3 images per minute.

Print quality was strong for text and graphics. Text remained legible at very small sizes, with minor stepping visible on bold curved lines under magnification. Color graphics showed smooth gradients and uniform fills. Photo prints leaned slightly toward undersaturation in several tests. The printer defaults to a Fine mode and supports up to 2,400 x 600dpi resolution.

Administrative features include a PC driver with watermarking and secure-print options and network security controls such as IP filtering and Active Directory/LDAP authentication. The touchscreen responds to taps but does not support swipe gestures. The left-side USB port and right-side ventilation mean the unit cannot be placed flush against walls on either side without limiting access or airflow.

Brother offers managed print contracts for this class of device starting at under £7 per month. The HL-L8570CDW carries a one-year return-to-base warranty.