A color laser printer for up to medium-duty use in a small or micro office or a workgroup, the Brother HL-L8260CDW ($329.99) delivers very good output quality for text and graphics. It offers a wide range of connection choices, good paper handling, and a reasonably low cost of ownership. Its mixture of features and performance at a competitive price earns it our Editors' Choice.

Design and Features

An off-white printer with a black top, the HL-L8260CDW ($249.99 at Amazon) is typical in size and weight for a color laser at its price. It measures 12.3 by 16.1 by 19.1 inches (HWD), and weighs 47.9 pounds. You will likely need two people to move it into place, and it is large enough that you will want to put it on a table or bench of its own. On top of the printer, a two-line monochrome display to the left of the output tray, combined with a small suite of function buttons, facilitates setup and maintenance.

For paper handling, the HL-L8260CDW is typical of a color laser in its price class. Standard paper capacity is 300 sheets, between a 250-sheet main tray and a 50-sheet multipurpose feeder. It can take up to three optional 250-sheet trays ($179.99 each) for a maximum capacity of 1,050. An auto-duplexer, for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, comes standard. Maximum monthly duty cycle is 40,000 pages, making it suitable for up to medium-duty use in a micro or small office.

Standard paper capacity is the same as the Editors' Choice HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw ($589.90 at Amazon) , but the HL-L8260CDW's maximum capacity exceeds that model's 850-sheet max. The M452dw has a slightly higher maximum monthly duty cycle at 50,000 pages.

You get a good range of connectivity choices. The printer connects to a PC via a USB cable, or to a local network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It can also join a direct peer-to-peer connection with a compatible device via Wi-Fi Direct. It supports Google Cloud Print, and works with the Brother iPrint&Scan app as well as Cortado Workplace, and is both AirPrint- and Mopria-compliant to facilitate printing from iOS and Android devices.

Printing Speed

Speed is typical of a color laser in this price range. In printing the text-only (Word) portion of our business applications suite, the HL-L8260CDW exactly meets its rated speed of 33 pages per minutes (ppm) for monochrome and color printing. In printing the full suite, which includes PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel files in addition to the aforementioned Word document, it averages 12.1ppm. The OKI C332dn ($243.93 at Amazon) effectively matches its 31ppm rated speed with our Word document (we timed it at 31.4ppm), and prints out the entire suite at 13.8ppm, a little faster than the Brother. We can't directly compare the HL-L8260CDW's speed with the HP M452dw, which we tested using our old protocol, but that model has a slightly lower rated speed (28ppm for both black and color printing).

Output Quality

Overall output quality for the HL-L8260CDW, based on our testing, was above average, with above-par text and graphics, and slightly below-par photos. Text should be fine for any business use except perhaps for those requiring very tiny fonts. Of the four standard fonts in our test suite, one was clearly readable at sizes down to 4 points, two were readable down to 5 points, and one down to 6 points. The HL-L8260CDW did well with our three unusual or stylized typefaces as well.

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Graphics are good enough for most any professional scenario, including PowerPoint handouts (even ones intended for important clients). Graphics from the HL-L8260CDW could even be used for basic marketing materials, like one-page handouts. It did well in rendering color gradients and thin lines. The only issue worth mentioning was mild banding in a few backgrounds.

With photos, I noticed posterization—a tendency for abrupt shifts in tone where they should be gradual—in several prints, and also some dithering (graininess). A monochrome photo had a slight tint. There was often a slight loss of detail in bright areas.

Overall, the HL-L8260CDW's output quality isn't quite as good as the HP M452dw, but not in a way that should disadvantage it. The HL-L8260CDW has a substantial edge in text quality, which is slightly below average for the M452dw. They both have excellent graphics, with a slight edge going to the HP. The HL-L8260CDW's photo quality falls short of the M452dw's. In general, photo printing is less of a priority for offices than text or graphics, but businesses that need high-quality photos (say, for real-estate handouts) may be better off choosing the HP M452dw. Text is the staple of office printing, though, and the HL-L8260CDW has a clear edge here. And although its graphics aren't quite as stellar as the M452dw's, they should still be fine for basic marketing materials.

Running Costs

Based on Brother's figures for consumables, the HL-L8260CDW's running costs are 2.5 cents per black page and 12.7 cents per color page, on the low side for a printer of its price. The HP M452dw (2.2 cents and 13.6 cents for monochrome and color pages) has slightly lower black costs and slightly higher color costs. The OKI C332dn's running costs are notably higher, 4 cents per black page and 17.6 cents per color page.

Conclusion

The Brother HL-L8260CDW stacks up nicely against the Editors' Choice HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw. We couldn't test them speed-wise head to head, but the Brother has a slightly higher rated speed. And it has better optional paper capacity than the M452dw, and lower color costs. While the HL-L8260CDW offers decidedly better text quality, photo quality isn't as good, and the HP edges it in graphics. Both printers are solid choices, but the HL-L8260CDW has a slight overall edge, making it our new Editors' Choice color laser printer for up to medium-duty printing in a small or micro office.

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