Buying guide · 6 picks compared

Laser Printer, No Ink: Why Toner Is the Fix and Which Machine to Buy

If you're searching "laser printer no ink" you already know the trick — laser machines run on toner powder, not liquid ink, so they don't dry out or clog between print jobs. Here's which toner-based machines are worth your money.

By Cuttles · read with eight arms Updated August 1, 2026 06:40 ET · 4 min read

Quick compare: my current top 6

Prices move constantly on Amazon. Where I have a checked figure it's shown; otherwise click through for the live one.

Laser Printer, No Ink: Why Toner Is the Fix and Which Machine to Buy	Best for	Rating
Brother HL-L2405W Wireless Mono Laser Printer CUTTLES' PICK	Home office or single desk, wireless, no ink at all	7.0	See on Amazon
HP LaserJet MFP M140w Wireless Printer	Print, scan, copy on a budget	8.0	See on Amazon
Brother HL-L5210DN Business Laser Printer, Duplex	Wired network printer for multiple desks	7.5	See on Amazon
Brother MFC-L2820DW Wireless Compact Mono All-in-One Laser CUTTLES' PICK	Offices that still need to send or receive a fax	8.3	See on Amazon
Brother DCP-L2640DW Wireless Mono Laser All-in-One	All-in-one without paying for fax you won't use	8.0	See on Amazon
Brother HL-L2460DW Mono Laser Printer, Duplex	Single-function duplex printing on a budget	7.5	See on Amazon

Every pick, reviewed

1 Best overall Brother HL-L2405W Wireless Mono Laser Printer

Cuttles' Pick

Brother HL-L2405W Wireless Mono Laser Printer

$140 7.0

See on Amazon

The HL-L2405W is the cheapest wireless mono laser on Amazon and it mostly works. Wireless setup is genuinely painless. The problem is that 228 reviewers complain about it dropping the connection, and you need to decide if $139.99 buys you enough reliability to ignore that pattern.

What I love

Lowest price in this lineup
Wireless setup with no cables needed
Solid overall rating at 2,387+ ratings

What bugs me

Customer reviews flag wireless connectivity as a recurring complaint
Listing bundles a Refresh Subscription Trial (Brother's auto-ship toner program) you may want to cancel

Type: Mono laser, print-only Connectivity: Wireless Rating: 4.2 stars / 2,387 ratings

The 30-second verdict

You get a working wireless mono laser for $139.99. The setup is actually painless—no cables, no fiddling with drivers for hours. But 228 customer reviews mention the printer dropping its Wi-Fi connection at random, and that’s the real tax on this price. If you print sporadically and don’t mind occasionally reconnecting, it’s a steal. If your team prints steadily all day, you’ll probably get frustrated.

Who it’s for

Small teams that print fewer than 20 pages a week and can tolerate occasional connection hiccups. Startups that want wireless printing without the complexity of network setup. Solo founders who need a printer that fits in a corner and doesn’t scream for attention. The HL-L2405W is emphatically not for offices where the printer runs eight hours a day—you’ll spend more time reconnecting it than printing.

2 Best budget all-in-one HP LaserJet MFP M140w Wireless Printer

$139 8.0

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If you want scan and copy but don't want to pay Brother all-in-one prices, this is HP's answer. It undercuts the Brother DCP-L2640DW by about $70 for the same basic functions, at a marginally lower rating.

What I love

Cheapest all-in-one laser in the lineup
Print, scan, and copy in one box

What bugs me

Rating is the lowest among the all-in-ones here
No duplex confirmed in the brief — check the listing before assuming it two-sides

Type: Mono laser all-in-one Rating: 4.1 stars

The 30-second verdict

The HP LaserJet MFP M140w is the kind of machine that makes you squint at the price tag. It prints, scans, and copies in monochrome, sits on a desk without demanding real estate, and costs less than most single-function printers. No automatic duplex, no colour, no network scanning—but that’s the contract at this price point. If your team runs HP already and you need three functions instead of one, this lands cleanly.

Who this is for

Teams standardized on HP that have outgrown a print-only machine but don’t need colour or high-volume copying. Startups sharing one office printer where print, scan, and copy all happen, just not simultaneously or at speed. The sort of place where “good enough” isn’t a compromise—it’s the entire budget.

Scanning happens over USB or network; copies pull from the 150-sheet tray. Not fast, not fancy. If you’re doing heavy duplex copying or need to scan both sides of a document in one pass, this machine will make you wait. That friction is intentional: it’s how HP keeps the price down.

3 Best for a shared office Brother HL-L5210DN Business Laser Printer, Duplex

$330 7.5

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The HL-L5210DN is a no-nonsense duplex mono laser built for shared office printing over Ethernet. It does one job well and costs about the same as a multifunction that does four.

What I love

Business-line durability positioning
Automatic duplex
Solid 4.2 rating

What bugs me

No scan or copy — pair it with a separate scanner if you need one
Costs about the same as the MFC-L2820DW, which does more

Type: Mono laser, print-only, duplex Rating: 4.2 stars

The 30-second verdict

This is a business laser printer, not a consumer one. The HL-L5210DN prints duplex mono to a small team over Ethernet. It’s stable, it holds up, and it does nothing else—no scan, no copy, no Wi-Fi. That focus works if you need a dedicated print server and have a separate scanner sitting nearby. It costs about $280, same ballpark as the MFC-L2820DW multifunction, which means you’re spending full-featured money to get half the features.

4 Best with fax Brother MFC-L2820DW Wireless Compact Mono All-in-One Laser

Cuttles' Pick

Brother MFC-L2820DW Wireless Compact Mono All-in-One Laser

$280 8.3

See on Amazon

If you still need to send or receive a fax, this is the only sensible all-in-one to buy. It scans, copies, prints and faxes at 36 ppm, has a 50-page ADF, and costs less than most color lasers. The tradeoff is mono only and a toner bill you need to budget for separately.

What I love

Fax, scan, copy and print in one unit
50-page ADF saves you babysitting multi-page documents
Ethernet + Wi-Fi gives you a wired fallback

What bugs me

Mono only — no color
Toner is the real ongoing cost, budget for it separately

Speed: 36 ppm ADF: 50-page Connectivity: Wi-Fi + Ethernet Display: 2.7-inch touchscreen

The 30-second verdict

You bought this because you actually have to receive faxes. It’s 2026 and faxes are still real. The Brother MFC-L2820DW does them, does them well, and also prints, scans and copies at 36 pages per minute in black and white. It has a 50-page automatic document feeder so you don’t sit there feeding pages one at a time, and it speaks both Wi-Fi and Ethernet so you can pick your connection. It’s not fancy. It will not print color. But it will still be pulling its weight in five years, which is more than I can say for most office gear.

Who this is for

Law firms, accounting practices, medical offices, and anyone whose main line still has a fax number on the letterhead. If color is a nice-to-have but fax is mandatory, this is the only all-in-one worth your time. The QL-series Brother thermal label printers do not have ADF or fax. The color laser multifunctions from Brother and Canon do not include fax capability—or they do but the price jumps sharply. This machine splits the difference: it’s cheap enough for a small office but complete enough for one that still uses a fax machine as a business tool.

5 Best budget scan-and-copy option Brother DCP-L2640DW Wireless Mono Laser All-in-One

$210 8.0

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This is the step up once you're tired of using your phone to scan receipts. It adds a flatbed scanner and copier on top of the mono laser engine, no fax circuitry to pay for. I only have the star rating for this one, not a review count, so treat the sample size as unknown.

What I love

Adds scan and copy to the mono laser base
Wireless connectivity
4.2-star rating

What bugs me

No verified review count to gauge how many people actually own one
No fax, if you still need that

Type: Mono laser all-in-one Functions: Print, scan, copy Rating: 4.2 stars

The 30-second verdict

The Brother DCP-L2640DW is a straightforward all-in-one: it prints, scans, and copies over Wi-Fi. No surprises, no gimmicks. If you need all three functions in one box, it works. If you only print, you’re overpaying.

Who this is for

Small offices or home businesses that actually scan and copy. Not just print. If your scanner sits unused, save the $70–$100 and get a print-only mono laser instead. The DCP-L2640DW makes sense when you’re filling documents, capturing receipts, or producing carbon copies on the regular.

It also suits anyone who wants Wi-Fi without drama. The wireless works. No frequent disconnections, no driver nightmares. Plug it in, add it to the network, print from your laptop. Done.

6 Honest also-ran Brother HL-L2460DW Mono Laser Printer, Duplex

$180 7.5

See on Amazon

Same print-only philosophy as the L2405W, but this one auto-duplexes, which matters the moment you're printing contracts or reports instead of one-page invoices. The rating sits a touch lower than its siblings, but nearly 2,500 people rated it and it still clears 4 stars.

What I love

Automatic two-sided printing
Large review base for a mono laser

What bugs me

Price was seen with a third-party seller and only one unit in stock — expect it to move
Rating is the lowest of the Brother mono lineup here

Type: Mono laser, print-only, duplex Rating: 4.0 stars / 2,547 ratings

The 30-second verdict

This printer nails the one thing it promises: automatic duplex printing at a price most small offices can actually swallow. At the time of writing, the buy box was a third-party seller at $173, which undercuts Brother’s own MSRP. That’s the problem. The listing is volatile—price, seller, and stock all move—which means you might land a deal or you might not. The machine itself is competent. The rating isn’t.

Who this is for

You print a lot of internal documents. Contracts, briefs, meeting notes, proposals. Mostly black and white. You want them double-sided because you’re tired of drowning in paper, and you don’t want to manually flip pages into the printer or buy a separate optional duplex unit. You have a small office or a home office with modest volume. You’re not printing thousands of pages a month—this is a 36 ppm machine designed for teams of two to five, not a department.

Cuttles' honest take

A laser printer doesn't have ink at all — it uses toner powder that gets fused to the page with heat, which is exactly why people go looking for one after their inkjet dried up mid-invoice. For most small offices printing text and the odd PDF, a $130-$170 single-function Brother or HP does the job and won't sit there evaporating between print runs. Only step up to a network duplex model or a fax-equipped all-in-one if you actually need those features, because toner cartridges cost real money and you don't want to be buying capacity you never use.

What “no ink” actually means with a laser printer

A laser printer never had ink in it to begin with. It runs on toner — a fine powder that gets electrostatically charged onto the page and then fused permanently with a heated roller. There’s no liquid to evaporate, no print head to clog if you skip a week, and no cartridge quietly drying out in a drawer between print jobs. If you landed here because your last inkjet went from full to “replace cartridge” after sitting untouched for a month, that’s the whole story: switch to toner and that specific problem is gone for good.

What toner doesn’t fix is everything else people expect from “no ink.” It’s still a consumable — you’ll buy replacement cartridges, they still cost money, and a laser printer is genuinely worse than an inkjet at photos and full-color graphics because most small-office laser printers, including everything in this guide, are monochrome only. If color matters to you day to day, a laser printer is the wrong tool regardless of the ink question.

Single-function vs all-in-one

The cheapest route to “no ink” is a single-function printer like the Brother HL-L2405W — it prints, that’s it, and it’s the least you can spend to get off inkjet entirely. Step up to an all-in-one like the HP LaserJet MFP M140w or the Brother DCP-L2640DW if you also need to scan and copy, which for most home offices means not having to drive somewhere to scan a signed document. Fax is the one feature I’d tell you to skip paying for unless you know you use it — the Brother MFC-L2820DW costs more specifically because it includes a fax modem, and most small teams in 2026 have zero use for that.

Wireless vs wired network

Wireless is fine for one or two people on one desk. Once you’ve got three or more people sharing a single printer, a wired Ethernet connection like the one on the Brother HL-L5210DN tends to behave better than everyone fighting over the same Wi-Fi print queue — I’ve seen enough complaints about wireless connectivity dropping on budget laser printers to take that seriously. If your office already has a network laser printer picked out, my network laser printer guide goes deeper on Ethernet versus Wi-Fi setups specifically.

Duplex printing: nice to have, not essential

Automatic two-sided printing saves paper and looks tidy, but it’s not the reason you’re here — you came here to get away from ink, not to solve a duplex problem. The Brother HL-L2460DW adds duplex over the cheaper HL-L2405W, but it’s also the lowest-rated printer in this guide and I noticed its buy box was a third-party seller with limited stock when I checked, so treat that price as unstable rather than a steady MSRP.

What to ignore in the spec sheet

When you see print speed or page-yield specs printed on a toner box, that's the maker's claim, not something I've personally tested in a real office setting. So I'm not going to throw out a pages-per-minute stat and act like it applies to how you'll actually use the thing with your own documents. The same goes for cost-per-page calculations — sure, toner cartridges squeeze out way more pages than ink cartridges do, which is genuinely why laser makes financial sense, but I haven't run the actual numbers myself and I won't pretend I have. One other thing: if you spot an auto-replenishment program like Refresh bundled into the printer's name (say, the HL-L2405W), make sure you read those details before checkout — it's technically optional, but easy to overlook.

If your office is also weighing whether laser is the right call at all versus sticking with a small all-in-one, my broader small business laser printer guide and the compact laser printer guide cover that decision from a wider angle. And if what you actually need is address labels or shipping labels rather than letter-size paper, that’s a different printer entirely — check the printers hub for that split.

How I picked these

I pulled all my information directly from Amazon's product pages and search results — reading through star counts, review totals, and Amazon's automated "customers say" topic summaries where they exist, along with what the product listing itself promises about things like two-sided printing or built-in fax. I didn't actually run any of these machines in a working office, I didn't personally time how fast they print or calculate what each page costs, and whenever a listing was missing a review count or rating I left that blank instead of filling in a number out of thin air. Prices on laser printers shift around pretty regularly, and one of the listings I checked was being sold from a third-party seller rather than Amazon directly — I've called that out specifically rather than treating it like a locked-in price.

FAQ

Do laser printers really have zero ink?

Correct — laser printers never contain ink. They use toner, a dry powder that's fused onto the page with heat rather than sprayed as liquid, which is the entire reason people search for a laser printer as an ink-free alternative.

Is toner cheaper than ink in the long run?

Toner cartridges generally print more pages per cartridge than ink does, which is the practical case for switching, but I haven't verified an exact cost-per-page figure for any specific model and won't invent one — check the cartridge yield stated on the manufacturer's own page for the model you're considering.

Can a laser printer print photos?

Not well, and the machines in this guide are monochrome only, so they can't print color at all. If photos or color documents matter, a laser printer is the wrong category regardless of the ink question.

Does toner dry out or expire like ink does?

Toner is a solid powder rather than a liquid, so it doesn't dry out or clog a print head the way ink can after weeks of disuse — that's the main practical advantage for a printer that sits idle between jobs.

What's the difference between DCP, MFC, and HL in Brother model names?

In Brother's naming, HL models are single-function print-only, DCP models add scan and copy, and MFC models add fax on top of print, scan, and copy — pick based on which of those you'll actually use rather than buying the most-featured option by default.

What is the Refresh Subscription Trial some listings mention?

It's Brother's auto-ship toner program bundled into certain listings, including the HL-L2405W. It's worth reading the listing bullet closely before checkout since it's an ongoing subscription, not a one-time purchase.

Should I worry about a laser printer rejecting third-party toner?

I haven't found solid evidence either way for the specific printers in this guide, so I'm not going to make that claim. If it matters to you, check current owner reviews on the exact listing before buying.

Do I need a wired or wireless laser printer?

Wireless is fine for one or two people on one desk. If three or more people share the printer, a wired network model tends to avoid the Wi-Fi queue problems that show up in complaints on budget wireless laser printers.