Samsung Xpress M2020W vs Brother HL-L2350DW: Is the Old Samsung Still Worth It?

The Samsung Xpress M2020W still turns up in searches and on marketplaces because it is one of the smallest and cheapest mono lasers ever made. The Brother HL-L2350DW is the machine most people end up buying instead. If you are weighing a bargain M2020W against a new Brother, this is what you should know.

Specifications side by side

The Samsung is genuinely small. At roughly 4 kg and a third of a metre wide it fits on a shelf where the Brother will not. That is the entire case for it, and for some buyers it is enough.

Running costs

The Samsung's cartridge contains the drum, so there is nothing else to buy, which makes its figure look simpler. But at roughly 4.7 to 6 cents per page it is meaningfully more expensive than the Brother's 3.3 cents including drum amortisation. Over 5,000 pages that is around $70 to $130 extra.

Compatible MLT-D111 cartridges are cheap and plentiful, which narrows the gap considerably. So are compatible TN760 cartridges. In both cases quality varies; read third-party ink and toner before switching supplier.

The support question

This is the part most comparisons skip, and it matters more than any spec.

HP acquired Samsung's printer business in 2017. Samsung-branded printers are no longer manufactured, and support, drivers and firmware are provided through HP. Drivers for the M2020W do still exist for current Windows and macOS releases, but the machine is long discontinued and there is no guarantee that a future operating system release will be supported.

Practically, this means the M2020W is a fine printer if you find one cheap and you are comfortable printing through driverless standards such as Mopria if the vendor driver eventually stops working. It is a poor choice if you need certainty for the next five years. Our Samsung printer support guide covers where to find drivers now.

The Brother HL-L2350DW is also an older model, superseded by the HL-L2460DW, but Brother continues to support it and its TN730-family consumables are in wide production.

Who each printer suits

Choose the Samsung Xpress M2020W if

• Physical size is the constraint and nothing else will fit.
• You are buying used or clearance at a very low price.
• Your volume is under about 50 pages a month.
• You do not need duplex printing.
• You are comfortable relying on driverless printing if driver support ends.

Choose the Brother HL-L2350DW if

• You want automatic duplex printing.
• Speed matters: 32 ppm against 20 is a real difference on a long document.
• You want a 250-sheet tray rather than refilling every 150 pages.
• You want lower cost per page and a large, mature consumable supply.
• You want assurance of driver and firmware support for years to come.

Setup, apps and drivers

The M2020W has no LCD, so wireless setup is done through WPS button pairing or the Samsung Easy Wireless Setup utility, which is now distributed by HP. In practice, many owners simply connect it by USB or use WPS and then leave it alone. Mobile printing works through Mopria Print Service and, on some firmware revisions, AirPrint.

Brother's setup uses Brother Mobile Connect, or you can add the printer directly through Windows printer settings using driverless IPP, which is the least fussy route. AirPrint and Mopria are both fully supported.

If you cannot get either printer onto your network, our printer will not connect to Wi-Fi guide covers the usual causes, which are almost always 5 GHz-only networks or client isolation rather than the printer.

Known weaknesses and common errors

Samsung Xpress M2020W

The lack of any display makes diagnosis harder: faults are communicated with a red LED and you have to interpret it from the manual. Paper pickup from the open input tray is less reliable in dusty rooms because there is no closed cassette. And, as above, driver longevity is the real risk.

Blank pages on a newly fitted cartridge are usually a seal or a poorly seated cartridge; see printing blank pages. If the driver will not install on a current Windows build, driver installation failed covers the workarounds, including using the built-in class driver.

Brother HL-L2350DW

Brother's usual behaviours apply. The toner sensor gives a replace toner message before the cartridge is empty and the drum end of life counter fires at its rated count regardless of physical condition. Both are resettable where the part is still good.

The printer occasionally drops off Wi-Fi after a router change; a DHCP reservation prevents it permanently.

Regional availability and model names

• United States and Canada: the M2020W is discontinued and available used or as remaining stock; MLT-D111S and MLT-D111L cartridges are still widely sold. The HL-L2350DW uses TN730/TN760/TN770 toner with a DR730 drum.
• United Kingdom and Ireland: the M2020W was sold widely and cartridges remain easy to source. The HL-L2350DW takes TN-2410/TN-2420 toner and a DR-2400 drum.
• Australia and New Zealand: the M2020W is long gone from retail; Brother Australia sells the HL-L2350DW with TN-2430/TN-2450 toner and a DR-2325 drum.

Buying used: what to check

Most M2020W purchases in 2026 are second-hand, so a few checks are worth doing before money changes hands.

• Print the configuration page and note the total page count. Above roughly 15,000 pages the pickup roller and separation pad will be due.
• Check the toner cartridge is genuine or a good compatible, and that the seller has not just fitted a nearly empty one. A replacement is a significant fraction of the price of a used machine.
• Test wireless setup yourself. Without a display, re-pairing is awkward, and a unit that will not join a modern router is close to useless.
• Look for streaks or a repeating mark down the page, which indicates drum wear. Because the drum is inside the cartridge, that is fixable, but factor in the cost.

The same checks apply to a used Brother, with the addition of checking the separate drum unit counter, which is displayed on the LCD and tells you exactly how much life remains.

Verdict

Choose the Samsung Xpress M2020W if you have a specific space constraint, you are printing small volumes, and the price is genuinely low. It is a competent little printer and there is nothing wrong with using one. Just go in knowing it is a discontinued product supported on borrowed time.

Choose the Brother HL-L2350DW if you are buying a printer to keep. It is faster, it duplexes automatically, it holds more paper, it costs less per page, and its consumables and drivers will be available for years. For almost every buyer, it is the correct answer.

If you also need to scan, look at the MFC-L2710DW or MFC-L2750DW instead. See inkjet vs laser printers for background and the Brother support hub for model-specific help.