Brother DCP-L2640DW Review for Home Offices That Print Mostly Text

Text is what this printer is for, and it is where the independent evidence is strongest. Consumer Reports rates its black text excellent and timed a five-page text job at 17 seconds, which it calls reasonably fast. That timing includes the wait for the first page, so it lands well below Brother's 36 pages a minute. Brother's own footnote explains part of the gap: the headline speed is for single-sided printing, and the printer ships set to print on both sides.

That default is worth leaving on. Duplex printing halves the paper you use, and for a stack of letters or a contract the slower two-sided pace matters less than the paper saved. Brother quotes 8.5 seconds for the first page from ready mode.

Graphics are the weak spot. The same test found mono graphics printed with some obvious defects and calls them fine for casual use only, so charts and scanned photos will look rougher than text. Laser toner also cannot clog, which matters for anyone who prints a few pages a week and has come from an inkjet that dried out between jobs.

The document feeder on top takes up to 50 sheets and is the reason to buy this all-in-one over the print-only HL-L2460DW. Drop in a signed contract or a month of receipts, press Scan or Copy, and the pages go through without lifting the lid for each one. Consumer Reports rates scanning very good and fine for general-purpose use.

The feeder reads one side of the page only. Brother's specification sheet lists duplex scanning and duplex copying as unsupported, and RTINGS' table of Brother variants shows that two-sided scanning starts with the MFC-L2880DW. A stack of double-sided bank statements therefore has to go through twice, turned over by hand, and the two scans merged afterwards. For a household that files paperwork once a month, that is a minor chore. For an office that digitizes two-sided forms every day, it is the reason to buy a different model.

Brother rates the feeder at 23.6 pages a minute in black and much slower in color, measured at 300 dpi with extra features off. Scans can go to a computer through Brother iPrint&Scan, to a phone through the Brother Mobile Connect app, to an FTP server, or to an email address. A dedicated 2 in 1 ID Copy button puts both sides of a driving license on one page.

The cartridge in the box is a starter rated at 700 pages. The standard TN830 replacement is rated at 1,200 pages and the TN830XL at 3,000, both measured to the ISO/IEC 19752 standard. So the first toner change comes sooner than later ones, and the XL cartridge is the one to buy when it does.

Consumer Reports got 1,133 pages of black text from one standard TN830, close to Brother's rating, and at its assumed pace of a little under thirty pages a month expects a cartridge to last years. It rates the running cost low among mono laser all-in-ones. The drum is a separate part, the DR830, rated at about 15,000 pages, and at home-office volumes it will outlast several cartridges.

Two settings in the manual matter here. When the display shows Replace Toner, the factory setting stops printing. Switching Replace Toner to Continue in the General Setup menu lets you keep printing until the page looks faint, and the setting resets to Stop each time a new cartridge goes in. The manual also recommends Brother supplies and warns that damage proven to come from non-genuine toner is not covered by the one-year warranty.

In March 2025 owners and repair advocates accused Brother of using firmware updates to restrict third-party toner. Brother denied that its updates block third-party cartridges, and the complaints did not name this model. If you plan to use compatible toner, check owner reports for your firmware version before updating.

Brother also sells a Refresh subscription. Its terms say that if the printer did not come with a subscription-ready cartridge, canceling deactivates the subscription cartridge, which then has to be replaced at your cost.

Connections cover every common case: dual-band Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5 GHz, Ethernet, USB 2.0 and Wi-Fi Direct. The 5 GHz radio helps in apartments where the 2.4 GHz band is crowded. Phones print through AirPrint, Mopria or the Brother Mobile Connect app, which also scans to the phone, shows toner level and orders supplies.

Mac owners should read Brother's footnote before buying. The specification sheet says printing and scanning on macOS require AirPrint and that Brother does not provide Mac printer drivers. AirPrint handles everyday printing and scanning, and Brother iPrint&Scan is available for Mac from the App Store, but anyone who relied on a vendor driver for tray or finishing settings will find fewer options. Windows gets a full driver, and Linux drivers are listed too.

Setup uses the Wi-Fi button on the panel together with Brother's installer on a computer, or Wi-Fi Protected Setup on a compatible router. The printer also has a web management page, and its default password is printed on a label on the back, marked Pwd. The manual asks you to change it at first login, which is worth doing on any shared network.

At 16.1 by 15.7 by 12.5 inches and 25 pounds, it fits on a desk return or a low shelf, and Consumer Reports describes it as needing a moderate amount of space. The paper tray holds 250 sheets and takes legal size, and a single-sheet slot above it handles envelopes, labels and heavier card.

The controls are a two-line monochrome display and physical buttons. Menus take some scrolling, and the touchscreen models above it are easier to navigate, but the printer mostly runs from a computer or phone.

Brother rates the noise at 49 dB while printing and 30 dB when ready. Power is low for a laser: 0.5 W in deep sleep and a rated typical electricity consumption of 0.42 kWh a week, and the model is ENERGY STAR certified. The fuser draws a short burst of power while a job runs, so plug it into a wall socket rather than a small UPS. The sleep countdown can be set up to 50 minutes in the menu.