BrotherHL-1212W

Standard laser
Mono

£50Typical price

Test score

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The Brother HL-1212W is a very affordable standard mono laser printer. It only prints in black and white and doesn't have many frills or features, but fast spreadsheet printing makes it potentially a good budget option for a home office. But how does it handle text and how cheap is it to run? We tested this standard mono laser printer to find out.

pros

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cons

What's included?

What is it?
What's it great for?
What are the ink costs like?
How well does it print?
Is there anything I should watch out for?
Is there anything else I should know?
Should I buy it?

Digital first month £5, then £8.99 per month, cancel at any time.

KEY TEST RESULTS
Print quality and speed
Printing costs

Nov 2025Last checked by Which?
Aug 2015First reviewed by Which?
Jan 2015Released

The overall Which? test score is made up of the following star ratings, all determined by our rigorous lab tests.

A man in a light blue shirt places a document into a multi-function printer, preparing to scan or copy it.

How we test printers

12 Feb 2026

Print quality and speed

Overall
Print quality
Print speed
Black text quality
Black text speed
Office graphics quality
Office graphics speed
Images with text quality
Images with text speed

How we test print quality and speed

Quality and speed for different types of documents.

Ease of use

Overall
Ease of printing
Low noise

How we test ease of use

Ease of use, including printing, copying and scanning where relevant.

Printing costs

How we test printing costs

How cheap or expensive the printer is for ink/toner costs per page. More stars means cheaper prints. Costs are based on our occasional printing test - printing black text and colour pages, leaving time between prints and turning the printer off between uses. Printers with no star rating were tested prior to our occasional printing test.

Power use

How we test power use

For energy, it's based on power use when the printer is turned off, in standby and when idle, just after printing.

General
Type of printer	Standard laser
Colour or Mono	Mono
Height	22
Height	22cm
Width	34cm
Depth	42cm
Prints on A3	No
Aimed at photo printing	No
Aimed at home office printing	No
Individual Colour Cartridges	No
Claimed maximum page weight	105
Print on transparencies	Not stated
Refillable tanks	No
Continuous printing cost
Occasional printing - text and graphics
One year printing cost
Two year printing cost
Three year printing cost
Ten black text prints
Page of office graphics
Black cartridge	TN-1050
Colour of printer	Black

Features
Preview Screen	No
Fax	No
Automatic Document Feeder	No
Borderless printing	No
Auto duplexing	No
Double sided scan and copy	No

Connections
Ethernet	No
Wi-fi	Yes
Memory card support	No
Google CloudPrint	No
Print from smartphone	Yes
AirPrint compatible	No
Windows 8 compatible	Yes
Windows 10 compatible	Yes
Mac OS full compatiblity	Yes

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BrotherHL-1212W

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pros

cons

What's included?

How we test printers

Print quality and speed

Ease of use

Printing costs

Power use

How this product's score compares with other printers we've tested

Suggested Alternatives

Canon

Epson

Epson

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BrotherHL-1212W

pros

cons

What's included?

Test results

Specifications

Best Buys & Don't Buys

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Epson

Epson

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