In its promotional materials, Brother generally refers to the DCP-L2550DW ($159.99) as a multifunction copier. This monochrome laser device also prints and scans, but it doesn't fax—we would call it a three-function (print/copy/scan) all-in-one (AIO) printer. By whatever name, it is a worthy addition to a home or micro office looking for a workaday mono laser with good speed, a modest price tag, and a wide range of connectivity options, though it's best for text printing with middling overall output quality.

Taking the Measure of a Multifunction Copier

At 12.5 by 16.1 by 15.7 inches (HWD), and a weight of 25.6 pounds, you can probably find room for the DCP-L2550DW on your desk. Its two-line non-touch mono display, along with related function buttons, can be used to perform setup and maintenance tasks.

Standard paper capacity is 251 sheets, split between a 250-sheet main tray and a single-sheet multipurpose feeder. In addition to a flatbed scanner, the DCP-L2550DW lives up to its "multifunction copier" moniker with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning or copying multipage documents, though it can't automatically scan two-sided documents. The Brother HL-L2395DW, a similarly priced mono laser all-in-one that we recently reviewed, lacks an ADF (as well as fax capabilities). The Editors' Choice Canon ImageClass MF249dw ($300.00 at Amazon) has a 50-sheet ADF that supports two-sided scanning, as well as faxing.

Maximum monthly duty cycle for the DCP-L2550DW is up to 15,000 pages, with a recommended monthly print volume of 2,000 pages, making it best for low- to medium-volume printing in a micro or home office.

The DCP-L2550DW can connect to a PC via a USB cable, or to a local network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It can also connect via a direct peer-to-peer connection to a compatible device via Wi-Fi Direct. It supports Google Cloud Print, and works with the Brother iPrint&Scan app, and is both AirPrint- and Mopria-compliant to facilitate printing from iOS and Android devices. It includes document-management software for Windows (Nuance PaperPort 14SE with OCR).

I tested the DCP-L2550DW over an Ethernet connection with its drivers installed on a computer running Windows 10 Professional.

Good Printing Speed

In printing the text-only (Word) portion of our business applications suite, the DCP-L2550DW averaged 34.7 pages per minute (ppm), just shy of Brother's rated speed of 36ppm. It printed our full business suite—which includes PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel files in addition to the aforementioned Word document—at a 14.4ppm clip. The Brother HL-L2395DW turned in similar times, 33ppm for the text document and 14.6ppm for the full suite. Although the Canon MF249dw took longer to print our Word document than the DCP-L2550DW, averaging 27.5ppm, it was faster in printing out the entire suite, which it handled at 16.3ppm.

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Best for Text Printing

Overall output quality for the DCP-L2550DW, based on our testing, was below par for a mono laser, with average text, slightly subpar graphics, and below-par photos. Even average text for a laser printer is fine for any business use other than ones requiring very small fonts.

Graphics quality is suitable for internal business use, including PowerPoint handouts, though perhaps not for ones intended for important clients. Some backgrounds looked a bit faded, and I noticed mild banding (a regular pattern of faint striations) in several illustrations, as well as dithering (graininess). In one figure that is meant to show a gradient ranging from dark to light and back to dark again, the dark and light areas were nearly indistinguishable. The printer did do well in handling thin lines that are in color in the original.

There was some loss of detail in both bright and dark areas in photo prints. They also showed posterization (a tendency for abrupt shifts in shading where they should be gradual), and I saw aliasing (a tendency for straight lines to appear jagged) in one photo that tends to bring it out. You can print recognizable images from web pages, but that's about all.

Running costs for the DCP-L2550DW, based on Brother's figures for consumables (toner and drum), come to 3.5 cents per page. They are the same running costs found in both the Brother HL-L2395DW ($169.99 at Walmart) and the Canon MF249dw.

A Workaday Multifunction Printer

As a three-function mono laser all-in-one printer, the Brother DCP-L2550DW comes in at a lower price than its four-function cousins by eschewing the ability to send or receive faxes. It's reasonably fast, offers typical standard and optional paper capacity, and has a good set of connectivity choices. Although text quality is fine, both graphics and photo quality proved unimpressive in our testing, so it is best for in-house, workaday use. Although the DCP-L2550DW has an ADF, which the Brother HL-L2395DW lacks, the latter printer's output quality was somewhat better in our testing. Though more expensive, our top pick for home-office mono laser all-in-one is still the Canon MF249dw ($300.00 at Amazon) , which adds fax capabilities and offers better overall output quality than the DCP-L2550DW.

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