In January of 2005 Brother released the 16 page-per-minute (ppm) HL-2030, the 20 ppm HL-2040 and the HL-2070 printers. Both the HL-2030 and HL-2040 are host-based. The 18 ppm HL-2035 was introduced in July 2008, and is also host-based. It is basically a European version of the HL-2040 sold in North America. Numerous other printers and MFPs have been released based on the same print engine used in these earlier versions.

The supplies set for the Brother HL-2040 family is made up of a toner cartridge with an OEM rated yield of 2,500 pages and a separate drum unit rated at 12,000 pages. Neither the toner nor drum sections are chipped, but a flag gear is utilized by the toner unit. This flag gear must be reset during remanufacturing for correct printer operation.

Brother HL-2045