Author: Brother Gulf

Clueless about auto duplex printing on laser printers? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Auto duplex printing is basically printing on two sides of the paper automatically. Yes, it means that you don’t have to flip the pages manually when you want two-sided printed pages.

But how do you do that? Is there a special switch that you need to flip? Read on to find out!

Manual VS Auto Duplex Laser Printer

Manual duplex printing can achieve the same result as automatic duplex printing — the only difference is that you will have to turn the page over yourself to print the other side.

On the other hand, in auto duplex printing, the printer does the flipping for you. This saves you time, money, effort, and paper!

An auto duplex laser printer helps you to enjoy higher print quality, faster print speeds, cleaner prints, lower print costs, and more efficient printing.

Check out some of Brother’s best Laser Duplex Printers:

• HL-L2375DW
• DCP-L2550DW
• HL-L3270CDW
• DCP-L3551CDW
• MFC-L3750CDW

Here are some additional tips to enhance your printing efficiency:

Two Ways to Optimize Printing Speed

1. Use a Laser Printer

Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers usually print more quickly, regardless of whether your prints are in color or monochrome (black and white).

2. Use Auto Duplex

As mentioned previously, auto duplex printing saves you the hassle of manually flipping the pages. Just press print, make yourself a cup of coffee, and come back with double-sided prints!

How To Do Auto Duplex Printing

Setting up duplex printing can change your printing routine and reduce costs. All you have to do is to follow the steps below:

Windows

1. Select the print command in your application. Click File > Print – options may vary depending on your application.

2. Select Brother HL-XXXX Series (where XXXX is the name of your model) and click Properties or Preferences button.

Some programs have a different Print window and Properties or Preferences may not be listed. You may need to click on another button (ex. Setup) or tab before accessing the printer driver settings.

3. Next to Duplex / Booklet, select ‘Duplex’.

4. Click the Duplex Settings button.

5. Select the desired Duplex Type – Portrait/Landscape.

6. Select Binding Offset if you want to specify the offset for binding in inches or millimeters.

7. Change any other printer driver settings if desired.

8. Select OK and Print.

Mac

1. Select the print command in your application. Click File > Print – options may vary depending on your application.

2. Select Brother HL-XXXX Series

3. If Printer and Presets are the only options on the Print Window, click the Show Details button on the bottom to expand the Print Window. Then, click the blue down arrow to the right of the printer name to expand the Print Window.

4. Click on the drop menu (Copies and pages or the name of the application and click on Layout).

5. Choose ‘Long-edge binding’ or ‘Short-edge binding’.

6. Change any other printer driver settings if desired.

7. Click Print to print the document.

Are you a student who needs an affordable printer for your printing needs?

Tired of paying for expensive prints every time a school project is due?

Having to wait in the long queue at the school’s printing shop during submission deadlines?

Perhaps you are a parent who grimaces at the struggle of your children, and wishes to make their lives easier.

Students (and parents) rejoice! In this article, you will learn how you can save money on printing by investing in the right affordable home printers perfectly suited for your needs.

Why Do Students Need Affordable Printers

But first, let us address the elephant in the room — do children, teenagers and youths need printers?

The short answer is a resounding yes! Here are four reasons why students need low-priced printers at home.

Printing of School Projects and Assignments

With project-based learning and school projects being the norm these days, students need to print reports, essays, photos, and other assignments.

These may sometimes include color printouts of charts and graphs, or captioned photos depicting different locations that they’ve been. It is also common for students to print out lesson plans and notes from their teachers.

Tertiary level students in universities may also need a printer to proof-read long essays or churn out copies of their research reports.

Printing of Personal Fun Projects

Beyond school projects, having an affordable printer also allows your child to stretch her imagination with fun personal projects.

She could design and print out a photo book documenting your last family vacation. Create a sign-board just for her room. Or write a fictitious story involving space aliens and cowboys!

A home printer also allows you to print out family photos — a perfect way to decorate your home during these times.

Expensive Shop Printing Costs

Beyond the above reasons, printing can also be increasingly more expensive at print shops with rising labor and rental costs.

While professional printers may be suited for large volume commercial prints, small-scale printing costs for home users are likely to be high. This is especially so for high resolution color printouts for images such as photos, posters, or other illustrations.

Inconvenience of Printing in School or at a Shop

Faced with mounting pressures at school, students who need urgent print-outs of their assignments may find it frustrating to look for an available print shop.

Often, queues at such printing shops may form — especially close to project deadlines!

Besides battling other students to get your job printed first, you may also have to contend with occasions where the shop closes, like weekends, public holidays, or non-retail hours.

What To Look For in an Affordable Student Printer

Getting an affordable printer will help you to solve your student printing woes. You won’t need to go to a library or an internet cafe to print out your work, or rip your hair out when your regular print shop closes.

Before you run out to get any affordable printers you can find, consider these factors when you choose a printer that is best suited for a student.

Print Quality of Printer

Low cost shouldn’t equate with low quality. While searching for the best economically-priced printer, you’ll need to ensure that your printer doesn’t skimp on print quality.

Check that your value-for-money printer can print out various documents with perfect clarity. It would be such a shame if your hard work came out with a bunch of blurs, lines and smudges!

Space Needed for Printer

Next, consider the space you have for your printer. You wouldn’t want a printer that takes up too much space, given the constraints of your room.

Try to find one that is compact yet packed with the features that you need for your school and personal printing needs.

Cost of Printer — Think Long-Term Costs

Lastly, you’ll need to consider the price of the printer itself, as well as its running costs.

Often, students and their parents opt for the cheapest printer available in the market without considering the ongoing cost of its consumables. Such costs may add up — especially when the volume of school work that needs to be printed goes up.

There are four running cost components that you should consider:

• Printer Ink or Toner Cost
• Printer Paper Cost
• Printer Electricity Consumption
• Printer Maintenance or Repair Cost

Printer Ink or Toner Price

The printer ink or toner is one of the biggest running costs when it comes to owning a printer. You wouldn’t want to get a cheap printer that has a huge cost for its ink or toner.

You may want to consider if the majority of your print jobs are to be in black and white or colored. This will help to determine your budget for the cartridges — yes, color cartridges are more expensive.

Do also be careful of using third party ink or toners — those may not be suitable for your machine and may damage it in the long-term.

It is wise to find a balance between your cost-per-page and the upfront printer cost.

Once you have these costs figured out, it would be easier to see if a printer will burn a hole in your pocket in the long term.

Pro Tip: If you’re looking to get an inkjet printer, you should use it at least weekly to maximize its cartridge use. Idle printers can dry up cartridges or result in clogged print heads.

If you are not printing constantly, and have longer idle time in between prints, it is better to get a laser printer. While the upfront costs of laser printers may be higher than inkjet printers, toner replacement wouldn’t be as often. Besides, laser printer toners are dry powders which wouldn’t dry up with time.

Printer Paper Price

The next cost to consider are your paper costs. There are different types of printing media and they all have different prices.

If you need to print art pieces on a certain print medium, its costs and compatibility may vary from printer to printer. Getting these special papers from the same printer brand ensures that your printouts will be of a premium quality — it also helps you to avoid printer jams and other mishaps.

If you are just printing regular documents, sticking to regular A4 plain paper shouldn’t be much of a problem. A cost saving tip is to buy your printing paper in bulk or during a sale — it is much cheaper than buying them individually.

Printer Electricity Consumption

This next cost might seem negligible to some, but with any electrical appliances, the electricity consumption costs of your printer do add up over time.

Where possible, look for printers that have a deep sleep mode or energy saving functions. This might not seem like an important cost to consider in the beginning — however, in the long run, it will save you a considerable amount.

Printer Maintenance and Lifespan

What’s the point of buying a printer which spoils the next year? Fixing it or buying a new one altogether can be both troublesome and costly.

To prevent this, ensure that you buy a reliable printer with a good warranty. Often, this is a good sign that its maintenance costs will be manageable.

Do also look out for printers from established trustworthy brands that provide reliable customer service. This can help you to reduce your printer maintenance costs and minimize the need for you to replace your student friendly printer every few years.

Where To Buy The Best Printers for Students

If you are looking to buy the best affordable printer for students, here are a few printers from Brother that can meet a student’s needs for affordability, high print quality, low consumables prices, and compact in size.

Brother Laser Printer For Students

Monochrome Laser printer:

DCP-L2550DW

• Print, Scan & Copy
• Monochrome Laser Printer
• Automatic 2-sided Printing
• Wireless Networking
• Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, HQ1200 (Up to 2400 x 600 dpi), Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi
• Size: 410 mm x 398.5 mm x 318.5 mm

Color Laser Printer:

DCP-L3551CDW

• Print, Scan & Copy
• Color LED Printer
• Auto 2-sided printing
• Wireless & Network Connectivity
• Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi (600 x 2400)
• Size: 410 mm x 475 mm x 414 mm

MFC-L3750CDW

• Print, Scan, Copy & Fax
• Color LED Printer
• Auto 2-sided printing & scanning
• Wireless & Network Connectivity
• Print Quality: Up to 600 x 600 dpi, 2,400 dpi (600 x 2400)
• Size: 410 mm x 475 mm x 414 mm

Brother Inkjet Printer For Students

Color Inkjet Printer:

DCP-T520W

• Print, Scan & Copy
• Inkjet Printer with refillable ink tank system
• Wireless and mobile printing
• Print Quality: Up to 1200×6000 dpi
• Size: 435 mm x 380 mm x 159 mm

Now go find your perfect printer and skip the nuances! Check out the nearest retail store or online shop in your region from this page: https://www.brother.ae/en/support/retailer-locations

Frustrated With The Never Ending Printer Problems? Here Are Some Solutions:

Are you struggling with your home or office printers? Wonder why your wifi printer does not work properly? Frustrated with printing errors from your duplex printer?

These problems can be a huge headache to those who simply want their printing work done.

Help is here! In this article, we have put together a list of the most common printer problems and their solutions.

• Slow Printing with Wifi Printers
• Home / Office Printer Not Printing
• Duplex Printer Printing Error
• Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper
• Paper Jams
• Unclear Printed Texts
• Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos
• Poor Black and White Print Quality
• Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints
• Unreliable Error Messages

Take a deep breath, calm yourself down, and try these solutions before you call your printer repairman!

1. Slow Printing with WiFi Printers

In today’s fast-paced world, a slow printer can be exasperating when you have a sizable number of pages to print.

The common reasons for slow printing are due to large photo sizes and large presentation files. You can either lower the quality of the output or simply send a part of the document at a time to speed things up.

If you are printing wirelessly, do check that the distance between your printer and your router isn’t too far—poor wireless connection could be a possible cause for slow printing. A simple solution would be to place your wireless printer as close to the router as possible, since WiFi speed slows down with distance.

Do also check your print settings. Higher quality prints do take more time to print. If an average print quality (i.e. for a text document) is good enough, consider switching your printouts to draft mode or the lowest quality setting your printer has to speed up your printing process.

2. Home / Office Printer not Printing

Are you staring at a printer that is just not printing? Well, you are not going crazy, there’s probably a reason for it. Before you start kicking your printer, consider checking if the paper tray is empty—yes, we’ve all made that silly mistake!

OK, there is paper in your tray. So what could have gone wrong?

Consider checking the connection of your printer. There may be multiple printers in the office and you may not have connected to the right printer.

There is a chance that you have accidentally sent the print job to another printer—be sure to double check just in case you are printing confidential documents!

If your printer is still not working, then your printer driver may be corrupted. You need to upload the latest version for your model and reinstall it on your computer. Should that still fail, it is best to call your local printer technician.

3. Duplex Printer Printing Error

Having a duplex printer should save you the hassle of flipping each printout manually. But what’s the point of having this functionality if your printer prints the back page upside down?

Fret not, there’s an easy solution to this. All you have to do is select Print on Both Sides, and opt to Flip on Long Edge. Your print jobs should be in the correct orientation now.

But what if you encounter disorderly pages, where the last page is at the top of the document?

There is a way around this incorrect manual sorting—simply print your pages in reverse. This can be found in the Advanced Settings box. You should only select this if your documents are to be put in order once the printing is complete.

4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper

“Why is there an extra sheet of blank paper after my prints?” 

No, your printer isn’t intentionally wasting paper. Rather, this extra sheet of paper probably came about due to your print settings. This is typically used in offices with multiple users and high print volumes, to separate print jobs from different users and avoid documents from being mixed-up.

If your printer is only for your personal home use, you can change the settings using your printer preferences. You should be able to deselect the option for separator pages from there.

5. Paper Jams

Paper jams are one of the most common issues people have with their home or office printers. This can happen due to static electricity (which causes pieces of paper to stick to each other) or when your printer tray is overloaded with too much paper.

A quick tip is to square off the stack of paper before placing it into the tray, ensuring that the pages line up and are flushed with the tray guides. Remember not to overfill the tray!

Jams may also occur when the print media used is not compatible with the printer. There are certain types of print media that are way thicker or bigger than the normal A4 Paper which is commonly used in most printers. Be sure to check that your printer is able to handle such media types and change your PC settings to match the print media.

6. Unclear Printed Texts

This problem may be caused by multiple reasons. Thus, you should go down this list to consider which option is the most likely possibility.

First, consider if you are using the draft mode or low print quality setting. Such settings may cause your printed texts to become unclear. By switching to a higher quality print, you will get clearer texts. However, be prepared to forgo your print speed—some printers are not able to simultaneously handle fast and high-quality prints.

If you are using a laser printer, there is a high chance that the toner has settled, resulting in blurry texts. All you have to do is to remove the cartridge(s) and shake it gently from side to side to release any residual toner clinging onto the side of the cartridge. This works 90% of the time, but remember that the toner will eventually run out and needs to be replaced.

Finally, if you are using an inkjet printer, check if your unclear prints are due to a dirty nozzle or misaligned print head. Thankfully, you don’t have to deal with this manually (though you can if you wish).

Simply launch your printer’s maintenance menu and select “Clean Ink Cartridges”, “Clean Heads”, “Deep Cleaning” or a similar function. Cleaning the printhead will help improve the quality of the printout. As it uses a fair amount of ink you should only do it if you notice that the print quality is particularly bad.

7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos

Poor quality inkjet prints would commonly be due to a misaligned print head, dirty nozzles or empty ink cartridges. You can troubleshoot this by following the steps described in the previous point above.

The type of print media used may also affect the quality of your prints—especially if you intend to print photographs or posters in high definition color. Make sure that you use the right photo paper. Often, third party photo papers are unable to reproduce your prints with the same resolution as the original photo papers from your brand.

Don’t forget to check that you have chosen the right paper type in your print settings and that it is set for photo printing.

It is also possible that your printer is low on one color, causing discolorations. To achieve vibrant print reproductions of photos in the right hues, you need to ensure that inks in all the different colors are available – having one color less can make a huge difference to your print quality.

8. Poor Black and White Print Quality

Do you turn off the color when printing black and white documents? This is probably the cause of poor prints, especially for black and white images.

The colors give your documents smoother gradations and richer tones compared to solely using black. Thus, if you are printing a high quality black and white document, consider turning on the color option for the best results.

9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints

Do your prints have a thick band of ink clustered around certain sections? This happens when your printer is unable to print at a certain resolution, usually on an uncoated paper. When it encounters this issue, it will try to adjust for the higher resolution by using more ink, causing the thick patch of ink (also known as banding) to appear.

To solve this problem, simply opt for a lower print resolution on your printer.

10. Unreliable Error Messages

Wonder why error messages like “low toner” or “ink error” appear when you’ve just replaced your toner or printer cartridge? Unless your new cartridges are faulty or broken, resetting your computer and printer usually fixes this problem. Do follow the instructions of your printer model to reset it properly.

Conclusion

Printer problems like slow printing, poor quality printouts, and paper jams can pose a huge inconvenience, especially when you need to get your work done. Hopefully, these solutions to the most common printer problems can help you to quickly get back on track. Should all of them fail—and we certainly hope that they wouldn’t—you should probably contact your local printer operator for immediate help! Still need help with your printer? Discover the official Brother service center locations near you.

When it comes to printing solutions, is bigger truly better? In the recent years, we have seen a shift from large copiers to compact laser printers and all in one devices as businesses embrace smaller decentralized departments and home offices. But aren’t copiers supposed to be more durable, cost-efficient, and offer greater functionality over desktop printers? Let’s explore these myths and discover how you can find the best printer for your evolving business needs.

Myth #1: Copiers are more cost-effective than desktop laser printers

While it used to be common knowledge that traditional copiers were more cost-effective due to their high-volume and low cost-per-page nature, the latest laser printers from Brother is set to change all that. This new breed of desktop laser printers is not only much more affordable than copiers to purchase or lease, but with higher yield toner replacements options available, they can also deliver significantly lower running costs in the long run.

Myth #2: Copiers offer more functionality for greater productivity

Many businesses are still using copiers for their functionality. This includes copying, printing, faxing and network connectivity. However, a broad range of Brother laser and all in one printers come with advanced features such as wireless printing and scanning, NFC tap-to-print, mobile printing and scanning apps, Cloud printing capabilities, and many more to easily match or exceed the functions of a traditional copier.  All packed in a sleek, compact device that fits easily on your desktop.

Myth #3: Copiers are more durable & can print higher volumes

When compared to many desktop printers, copiers are considered to be more reliable and capable of handling higher print volumes. But this is a myth that’s readily busted by Brother’s laser printers. Backed by industry-leading reliability and award-winning support, these productivity workhorses can be equipped with a variety of accessories such as additional paper trays, a sorter, a tower tray, or even a finisher. This allows businesses to enjoy high-volume printing that rivals those of copiers with support up to 600,000 prints over 5 years!

Fact: Brother Laser Printing Solutions deliver

Businesses are constantly evolving, and Brother has been at the forefront of print innovation for over a hundred years. Backed by its dedication to world-class reliability and customer service, our range of multifunction and laser printers are trusted by large enterprises, SMBs, and home office owners globally to take their business to the next level.

Perhaps it’s time to ditch that old copier and find your next productivity workhorse? Find yours here.

After shedding light on printerphobia – the fear of ink fuelled office equipment – we want to help workers in UAE and the Gulf region defeat their print paralysis.

Here are our tips to help turn printerphobes into calm and accomplished print whisperers.

Top 10 tips to overcome your printerphobia

1. Cast aside your fears and give it a go – a positive attitude wins in almost every situation, so if you’re tired of calling on a print whisperer, or phoning for help every time you need to complete a task, why not join us on our mission to overcome print fears? Brother’s Request Help service provides an interactive, online safety net, bringing expert advice to your fingertips whether you’re in the office or at home, giving you support and peace of mind at any time.

2. Connect and go – linking your computer and printer doesn’t have to be a laborious task. Our printers are designed to link up with your computer or mobile device in just a few easy steps. Simply visit our support page, enter your model number and follow the steps to get up and running in no time.

3. Have a go at replacing the ink or toner – a vital step in beating #Printerphobia and becoming a #PrintWhisperer is getting to grips with ink or toner replacement, especially if you are working from home, and practice makes perfect. Practice will give you confidence and keep you calm in an emergency. Most of Brother’s latest multifunction devices and printers have easy to use green levers for changing the toner and drum, making the task incredibly easy, even for the most fearful among you.

4. Find out where spare cartridges are kept – workers dubious about using the printer may be put-off by totally unrelated frustrations such as not knowing where to find spare paper, toner or ink when they are in the office. Pre-empt this by taking the time to find out where these vital items are kept, or ensure you always have some stock readily available at home.

5. Ask for demonstrations and shortcuts to device instructions – ask your office IT manager (or print whisperer) to give you a short tutorial on using your printer, either face to face or virtually. This will give you a detailed feel for the functions of the device as well as what to check if there’s a problem. If you’re working from home, simply download the device user manual and keep it by your side.

6. Explore the device interface – some modern print devices have intuitive interfaces and touchscreens that are both a window to their functionality and a way to resolve issues. Exploring the machine via its control panel and learning to navigate its functions will help you pre-empt a lot of future questions and reduce last minute panics.

7. Familiarise yourself with the paper trays – paper trays are little understood by printerphobes – “Why are there so many?” – “What are the moving plastic sliders for?” – “Argh, I just filled the wrong one”. Getting to know which trays are used for which size and type of paper can save time refilling paper in an emergency.

8. Shortcut to the basic print options – output variables such as margins, orientation, black and white, color, one-sided or duplex (double-sided) are all controlled from the computer when you send an item to print. Familiarise yourself with the basic print options to save time. They can be accessed with the shortcuts Ctrl+P for PC and Command-P for Mac users.

9. Practice scanning – in principle there’s nothing too tricky about scanning. The complexity comes in deciding where and how you want the digital file to be sent to you. The variety of options can make this step a little daunting, so the first thing to do is pick your preference. Whether you prefer to receive the digital file by email or put it straight onto a USB, have a play with the functionality and do what’s right for you.

10. Paper jams are not a nightmare – if your printer does jam, don’t panic. Usually, your display will give you an indication of where the jam might be. Simply follow the steps on the screen or check your printer carefully to remove any jammed paper. When the jam is fixed, hit continue and get on with your day.

Having experimented, improved your skills and quelled your fears, why not encourage others to take inspiration from your successes?

Reformed printerphobes make the most vocal and passionate print whisperers, so help us in our mission to improve everyone’s print skills.

Share your successes by telling us how you overcame your #Printerphobia to become a #PrintWhisperer.

If you still feel uneasy and need help, head over to our Support page where you can find a range of helpful guides on your specific printer: https://www.brother.ae/en/support.