Small colour laserjet or print service?

Partner is talking about a small colour laserjet for her part-time business, it’s not going to be maxed out printing, more were looking for something that will last a while. I’m looking at the Brother HL-3240 series but wondered if anyone has been though this lately, or had any other suggestions?

I do wonder if it’s not just worth getting a mono LJ printer, and taking the occasional colour flyer to a print shop?

Personally, second hand business grade HP whether colour or black and white.  The price difference B&W to colour isn’t that great and if you can replace the B&W and each of the 3 colour toners individually so IME no real disadvantage to having a colour laser.

I’ve only got a B&W laser for my business, which it is fine for, but I recently had to get around 50 pages of colour reports done, at around 50p per page, so £25 for a one time use. I thought about getting a colour printer, but really cannot justify it, and the 3 days delay between ordering and receiving the 50 colour copies isnt too bad either. If however I needed it immediately, I’d be going for a colour printer. Laser are superior IMO, but a bit more costly, against the cheaper to buy inkjet which have expensive consumables, and if not used regularly, the nozzles can block up.

I can get 1000 A5 flyers delivered to me tomorrow for £45 with the trade print service I use (would be better quality too). Absolutely not worth bothering with doing it yourself!

Mono laser for cheapness – as above, colour won’t necessarily cost any more to run, just more upfront cost.

I’ve got a brother hl something. Very happy with it. Not used heavily but it just works. Handy to have. We have a couple of print shops a short walk away but I still like to have it on my desk. Can be cheaply refilled with non branded toner and it lasts ages. Not great at photos or blocks of colour, if I need something nice I’ll use the print shop, but for most things it’s fine

@z1ppy Personal experience is Brother are good at keeping their drivers updated and they generally just work out of the box. Everything else may well need some fettling with software to allow it to print. The consensus of the more qualified types on The Register is that Brother every time is the best choice.

we also have a brother HLxxxx. Has worked very well and with very cheap off brand toner

Google the brother HL service mode that allows you to extend the life of the toner cartridges as they work by page count not usage of toner – you can easily zero the page count and carry on.

Software and app pretty solid

its a big beast and not light so needs a permanent spot.

If you can find a used one and see it working it may be a good way to try one out

Brother HL-3140CW here that has sterling service for many years (so won’t be a current model). Seems to print happily from any Mac/PC/phone/tablet that we’ve asked it to.

(If we’re allowed to be pedantic then Laserjet is a specific HP brand, not a general term).

Bought one of these, HP LaserJet Pro M283FDW after years of fighting with gunked up Inkjets that weren’t getting used enough. It’s been a bit of a game-changer as not only does it work every time it’s switched on it’s also wireless. It also scans & copies. Happy so far but I’m trying not to think about the cost of replacing the toner \o/