Brother HL-L2405W Cost Per Page: Toner and Drum Costs Explained
The Brother HL-L2405W is a print-only mono laser printer with Wi-Fi but no auto-duplex, rated at 30 ppm. It sells for $120, and its black toner runs $4.33 per 100 pages to print.
That rate isn't just the cartridge talking. The TN830XL toner cartridge costs $98 for 3,000 pages, but the printer's drum — $158, good for 15,000 pages — wears down alongside it and factors into the per-page cost, so cartridge price and yield alone don't add up to the $4.33 figure. Among the 23 mono laser printers InkTax tracks, the HL-L2405W ties for 7th on black cost per page, a rate matched by three other Brother models in its own lineup.
For the same $120 sticker, the Brother HL-L2400D trades Wi-Fi for auto-duplex printing — same price, different function set. Stepping up within Brother's line, the HL-L2460DW adds Ethernet and auto-duplex for $160, and the HL-L2480DW adds copying, scanning, a touchscreen and Ethernet for $220.
Outside Brother, the HP LaserJet M209dw is the closest rival: $199 up front, Wi-Fi and Ethernet included, auto-duplex, and a toner cost of $4.37 per 100 pages — pricier up front than the HL-L2405W, and a notch higher on toner cost too. The HP LaserJet M209d drops Ethernet and Wi-Fi for $159.
The running-cost floor for the mono laser class is the HP LaserJet Pro 4006dw, far cheaper to run at $2.23 per 100 pages. It costs $400 up front — far pricier than the Brother's $120 — but adds a touchscreen, Ethernet, auto-duplex, and prints at 47 ppm, well ahead of the HL-L2405W's 30 ppm.