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In this guide
Brother lists the HL-L2400D at $134.99 on brother-usa.com, and the listing was still marked out of stock in new condition on October 4, 2026. The spec table is short and unambiguous: 32 pages per minute single-sided, automatic duplex on by default, a 250-sheet tray, 1200 by 1200 dpi, and a single Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port with no cable in the box.
Read it as a two-part purchase. Part one is the printer with a 700-page starter cartridge and a DR830 drum rated for 15,000 pages. Part two is every cartridge after that: the standard TN830 at $60.99 for 1,200 pages, the TN830XL at $98.29 for 3,000, and eventually a $157.99 drum. Those are Brother's own prices and rated yields.
Our verdict
A sound buy for a single Windows or Linux PC printing a few hundred black-and-white pages a month, once the buyer accepts USB-only wiring and a consumable bill that passes the purchase price inside the first few thousand pages.
- A good fit for
- One desk, one computer, plain text and forms, duplex on by default, and no need to print from a phone.
- We would skip it if
- You want Wi-Fi or a shared printer, you print from a Mac or a phone, or you expect the in-box toner to outlast several weeks of regular use.
Reasons to consider it
- Automatic duplex is on by default and the tray holds 250 sheets
- Brother rates it at 32 pages per minute single-sided with an 8.5 second first page
- Toner and drum are separate parts, so a worn drum does not force a toner purchase
The compromises
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0 is the only interface and the cable is not in the box
- The starter cartridge is rated for 700 pages against 1,200 for the standard TN830
- The DR830 drum is listed at $157.99, above the $134.99 printer
What we have not verified: Speed, noise and yield are Brother's rated figures, and none of them comes from a print job run on the machine. The printer was still marked out of stock in new condition on 2026-10-04, while the TN830 cartridge that was out of stock in September now lists as in stock. How macOS printing is meant to work over a single USB port is not explained on the listing.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
HL-L2400D Monochrome Laser Printer
Duplex by default, a 250-sheet tray and a separate drum make it a low-fuss text printer for one Windows or Linux computer.
Before you buy: USB only, no cable included, a 700-page starter cartridge, and a drum that costs more than the printer when it wears out.
Price checked October 4, 2026. Retailer prices can change.What a page costs after the starter cartridge runs out
Brother's numbers: TN830 at $60.99 for about 1,200 pages, TN830XL at $98.29 for about 3,000, the TN830XL2PK twin pack at $176.49 for two 3,000-page cartridges, and the DR830 drum at $157.99 for about 15,000 pages. Dividing price by rated yield gives roughly 5.1 cents a page on standard toner, 3.3 cents on the XL, 2.9 cents on the twin pack, and about 1.1 cents a page for the drum on top of any of them.
So a page costs about 6.1 cents on standard cartridges or 4.3 cents on XL once the drum is amortized. At 200 pages a month the standard cartridge lasts half a year; at Brother's recommended ceiling of 2,500 pages a month it lasts two weeks. A buyer who prints a lot should plan on the XL from the first replacement and treat the $60.99 cartridge as the expensive option. All yields are ISO/IEC 19752 estimates for letter and A4, and real coverage will move them.
Seven hundred pages in the box, and no cable to print them with
The carton holds the printer, a starter black cartridge rated at 700 pages, the DR830 drum, a power cord and the printed guides. Brother's disclaimer states that a USB cable is not included. The starter cartridge is rated at 58 percent of a standard TN830, so the first replacement arrives sooner than the standard yield suggests.
For a household that prints a few dozen pages a month, the starter cartridge lasts a long time and the missing cable is a small separate purchase. For a home office that prints daily, the practical price of getting started is $134.99 plus a cable plus a $60.99 or $98.29 cartridge bought within the first weeks. Budget for that on day one. Brother's store carries a standing callout, "Free Ground Shipping on Orders $49.99+", which the printer clears on its own.
USB 2.0 is the whole connectivity story
The standard interface is Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and no more: no Wi-Fi, no Ethernet, no app printing from a phone. Brother lists driver support for Windows and Linux, and its disclaimer says macOS printing requires AirPrint with no Mac driver provided. How AirPrint applies to a device with no network port is not explained on the listing, so a Mac buyer should confirm that path with Brother before ordering.
For one computer on one desk, a wired printer removes a whole class of setup problems, and the spec table's GDI emulation, 600 MHz processor and 64MB of memory read as adequate on paper for text jobs. For a person who wants a shared printer, a laptop that moves between rooms, or printing from a phone, this model is the wrong pick at any price; Brother's TN830 page even notes that toner-level monitoring from the mobile app needs a wireless connection, which this printer lacks. Choose the wired model on purpose, not by default.
The drum is a second consumable with a price to know up front
Brother rates the DR830 drum at approximately 15,000 pages at one page per job and lists it at $157.99, which is $23.00 more than the printer. The printer's recommended monthly volume is up to 2,500 pages with a maximum duty cycle of 35,000, and the warranty is one year limited. The store's return policy is 30 days, but the credit path is narrow: a product is returned "for credit within 30 days of purchase provided that the product is 'Defective Out of the Box'", returned in the original box with all original packing materials, with a 15% restocking fee if those materials are missing.
At 200 pages a month the drum lasts around six years and the question does not come up; at 1,500 pages a month it comes up inside the first year, and at that point a new HL-L2400D with a fresh drum and 700 pages of toner costs less than the replacement part. The incentive runs backward, and it favors buyers at the low end of the volume range. Brother's yield figure assumes single-page jobs and says media type and size affect it, so treat the six-year estimate as a planning figure.
Skip it for shared use, phones, or Macs; buy it for one wired desk
Skip the HL-L2400D if more than one device needs to print, if any of those devices is a phone or tablet, or if the computer is a Mac and you have not confirmed the AirPrint route with Brother. Look past it as well if the plan involves the Refresh EZ Print subscription, since the TN830 listing names this model as ineligible, and skip it if you want Brother's app to warn you when toner runs low.
Buy it for a single Windows or Linux desk that prints text and forms, wants duplex without thinking about it, and can absorb a cartridge purchase soon after setup. At $134.99 plus roughly 4 to 6 cents a page in consumables, it is cheap to own at low volume and merely ordinary at high volume. The cost per page is arithmetic on Brother's own prices and rated yields, and the printer was marked out of stock in new condition on Brother's site both when the prices were recorded and again on October 4, 2026, so the $134.99 is a listing rather than a live buy box.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Brother: HL-L2400D Compact Monochrome Laser Printer (HLL2400D) (opens in a new tab)
- Brother: TN830 standard yield toner (opens in a new tab)
- Brother: DR830 drum unit (opens in a new tab)
- Brother: Return Policy (opens in a new tab)
