As is typical for any
Brother printer with this high a paper capacity, the
Brother HL-L6200DW is big enough so you probably won't want it sitting on your desk. With the standard capacity, it measures 11.3 by 14.7 by 15.3 inches (HWD), with the height growing by 4.8 inches for each additional 250-sheet drawer, or by 6 inches for each additional 520-sheet drawer. Even with just the standard tray, the height makes the
printer imposing enough that you might not want to share a desk with it. However, the footprint ties up a smaller area than many inkjets, so you may want to keep it near your desk if not on it.
Connection choices include USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct. If you connect the
Brother printer to a network via either Ethernet or Wi-Fi, you can also print to it through the cloud, as well as connect to it through an access point on your network to print from a mobile device. If you connect it to a single PC via USB cable instead, you'll lose the ability to print through the cloud, but can still print from a mobile device by connecting directly to the
printer using Wi-Fi Direct.
Setup, Speed, and Output Quality
At 26 pounds 6 ounces, the HL-L6200DW is light enough for one person to move into place. For my tests, I connected it to a network using its Ethernet port and installed the drivers on a Windows Vista system. Setup is standard for the breed.
Output quality for the
Brother HL-L6200DW is a mixed bag. Text is subpar, with the quality falling at the bottom of the range for the category in our tests. However, monochrome lasers handle text so well that even the lowest rung on the laser-quality ladder is good enough for almost any business use. As long as you don't have an unusual need for small fonts, you shouldn't have any complaints.
Graphics quality in our tests was typical for a monochrome laser, which makes it good enough for any internal business need. It's also good enough for PowerPoint handouts or the like, unless you have a critical eye. Photo quality is better than typical. The photo output in our tests was basically a match for the high end of newspaper photo quality.
Conclusion
Offices that need somewhat better text quality than the
Brother HL-L6200DW delivers should consider the
Brother HL-6180DW, the Dell B2360dn, or the Dell S2810dn. All three are roughly matched for text quality, with the
Brother HL-6180DW offering the highest paper capacity, and the Dell B2360 offering the fastest speed in our tests. For offices that don't need the step up in text quality, the HL-L6200DW offers the highest paper capacity in the group, the best photo quality, and faster speed in our tests than the
Brother HL-6180DW.
