Customer Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Solid, but flaky reliability
Comment: My co-worker and I started buying these Brother HL-1440 a few years ago because he had one and home and swore by its dependability. I found that about one out of every three has problems with the print drum or jamming. This is of course, for high volume government users used to creating many pages of documents. Another thing I didn't like about these HL-1440's was that whenever there are errors, the lights blink flash flash yellow/green only, and that's for all errors! It could be a damaged drum, out of paper, out of toner. And another thing, when you replace the toner, you should replace the drum that fits with the toner. Another $135! So after one toner and drum replacement you're looking at the price of a whole other printer. Do yourself a favor--get a good old dependable HP laserjet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bad Printer
Comment: I was not impressed with the typography of the 1440 when I first used it and over this last year the print quality has become unacceptable. I bought a new drum and toner and still the print is coming out very light and no longer is it dark or black as it should.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reliable Printer!
Comment: I've had this printer for over a year now... actually two years now! Got it at Office Depot and it was a Consumer Reports Best Buy. So, based on that, I purchased it. It works great - all the time. I think it may have jammed once or twice since I've had it and that was probably my fault. The toner is expensive, BUT it does seem to last a long time and the printing is GREAT qualiy. We are only printing in our home office, so it's not extensive. We've had to get new toner once or twice and it runs about $80 (which I think is pricey).
I'd recommend it to anyone without hesitation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In My Experience, A Piece of Trash
Comment: When this printer works, it tends to produce nice, clean copies (except when mysterious gray splotches begin to appear on every page). But there's the rub-- it almost never actually works. It can't seem to print ten pages without having a meltdown, with all kinds of LED buttons incoherently flashing and the printer stubbornly refusing to do much of anything. The printer consistently complains of paper jams when there are no paper jams, and, bottom line, simply won't print when you need it to. I guess I have to disagree with the love-fest many of its users have expressed on this site; I'm at the point of being ready to just throw the printer out the window and get a new one. With all the headaches this printer has caused since the day I bought it, and the countless ways it has slowed down my work, I would rate this a Zero. My suggestion: Do not buy this product; in my experience, it is, when all is said and done, a piece of trash. Spend a little more, or a little less, and leave Brother behind.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a GREAT option for the home user.
Comment: I have a two computer "network" at home in which I previously used two average quality inkjet printers (one for each pc). With laser printers having cost so much in the past, I never bothered to put one in at home. I was surprised to see that this model is not only affordable at its regular price of 99 dollars, but I found it at Office Max for 79.99 (they are no longer going to carry it)!
Because I have had great success using the Brother HL5170DN at work, and because a friend has the 1440 and loves it, I decided to give the HL-1440 a try for home use. I can say without a doubt that this is one good printer. I would think that even if I had paid twice as much as I did (which makes it all the sweeter). The print speed is very fast and the quality is great. I am still impressed with how crisp and clean this machine can produce images and graphics.
I am told that the toner cartridge that came with the printer (#430) is good for about 3,000 pages. By factoring that plus the cost of replacement cartridges, I feel that this printer is a fantastic choice for home use. I highly recommend it!
Summary: Pretty Solid, but flaky reliability
Comment: My co-worker and I started buying these Brother HL-1440 a few years ago because he had one and home and swore by its dependability. I found that about one out of every three has problems with the print drum or jamming. This is of course, for high volume government users used to creating many pages of documents. Another thing I didn't like about these HL-1440's was that whenever there are errors, the lights blink flash flash yellow/green only, and that's for all errors! It could be a damaged drum, out of paper, out of toner. And another thing, when you replace the toner, you should replace the drum that fits with the toner. Another $135! So after one toner and drum replacement you're looking at the price of a whole other printer. Do yourself a favor--get a good old dependable HP laserjet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bad Printer
Comment: I was not impressed with the typography of the 1440 when I first used it and over this last year the print quality has become unacceptable. I bought a new drum and toner and still the print is coming out very light and no longer is it dark or black as it should.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reliable Printer!
Comment: I've had this printer for over a year now... actually two years now! Got it at Office Depot and it was a Consumer Reports Best Buy. So, based on that, I purchased it. It works great - all the time. I think it may have jammed once or twice since I've had it and that was probably my fault. The toner is expensive, BUT it does seem to last a long time and the printing is GREAT qualiy. We are only printing in our home office, so it's not extensive. We've had to get new toner once or twice and it runs about $80 (which I think is pricey).
I'd recommend it to anyone without hesitation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In My Experience, A Piece of Trash
Comment: When this printer works, it tends to produce nice, clean copies (except when mysterious gray splotches begin to appear on every page). But there's the rub-- it almost never actually works. It can't seem to print ten pages without having a meltdown, with all kinds of LED buttons incoherently flashing and the printer stubbornly refusing to do much of anything. The printer consistently complains of paper jams when there are no paper jams, and, bottom line, simply won't print when you need it to. I guess I have to disagree with the love-fest many of its users have expressed on this site; I'm at the point of being ready to just throw the printer out the window and get a new one. With all the headaches this printer has caused since the day I bought it, and the countless ways it has slowed down my work, I would rate this a Zero. My suggestion: Do not buy this product; in my experience, it is, when all is said and done, a piece of trash. Spend a little more, or a little less, and leave Brother behind.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a GREAT option for the home user.
Comment: I have a two computer "network" at home in which I previously used two average quality inkjet printers (one for each pc). With laser printers having cost so much in the past, I never bothered to put one in at home. I was surprised to see that this model is not only affordable at its regular price of 99 dollars, but I found it at Office Max for 79.99 (they are no longer going to carry it)!
Because I have had great success using the Brother HL5170DN at work, and because a friend has the 1440 and loves it, I decided to give the HL-1440 a try for home use. I can say without a doubt that this is one good printer. I would think that even if I had paid twice as much as I did (which makes it all the sweeter). The print speed is very fast and the quality is great. I am still impressed with how crisp and clean this machine can produce images and graphics.
I am told that the toner cartridge that came with the printer (#430) is good for about 3,000 pages. By factoring that plus the cost of replacement cartridges, I feel that this printer is a fantastic choice for home use. I highly recommend it!