Brother has established a solid reputation for producing dependable workhorse printers and All-in-Ones that concentrate more on performance and speed than on providing loads of pretty extras, and this mono laser printer continues in the same tradition and is sure to find a steady fan base.

Square in shape, it weighs in at a trim 6.8kg and measures just 368 x 361 x 170.5mm. Styled in unassuming black and grey, one of the first things you notice is how few other items are in the box. Apart from the installation disk, the Quick Setup Guide and the power cable, all you have to deal with is the separate drum and toner cartridge. Undo the front panel, slide the cartridge in, switch on and you're ready to go through the installation process.

Brother is particularly proud of the fact that the low price point for this machine means that it is the best value wireless mono laser printer in its class. The wireless network setup is simply a matter of following the manual: as long as you are using Secure Easy Setup (SES), Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) or AirStation OneTouch Secure System (AOSS), it's a matter of minutes before you're up and running. Alternatively you can opt for a wired Ethernet connection and, of course, there's a standard USB 2.0 port for attaching the printer to your PC.

If you're expecting an LCD control panel you'll be disappointed, as this stripped-down version just has 4 LEDs - 3 for warnings (Toner, Drum and Error) and one on the 'Go' button. All other instructions and presets are handled by the printer driver menu on your PC when you're preparing a print job. Amongst the functions available are printing several pages on one sheet or expanding to poster size, as well as three 'ideal' print resolutions (HQ1200, 600 and 300dpi) and variable print density.

Maximum print resolution is 2,400 x 600dpi and, in addition to a basic 250-sheet feeder tray, there's a 100-sheet output tray at the back of the unit and a handy manual slot at the front that will allow you to feed in one sheet at a time of plain paper, bond paper, recycled paper, envelopes, labels and transparencies.

Print speed is impressive, quoted at 22ppm, with warm-up in around 12 seconds and first print in 10 seconds from warm. The drum will need replacing after about 12,000 A4 pages but at £52 (plus VAT) apiece, that's a reasonable outlay for such a high performance printer that produces sharp, well defined results.

Brother has every reason to be proud of this small but perfectly formed and powerful mono laser printer that produces fast, voluble and accurate results with the minimum of fuss, via its built-in wireless connection.