The Brother HL-5300 series was introduced in March and April 2009 to replace the existing 5200 series of monochrome printers. Several models followed the initial HL-5340 and HL-5350 with the same basic specifications and based on the same print engine. These included the copier-based DCP-8070/8080/8085 series and the MFC-8000 series MFPs. Targeted at small-to-medium businesses each printer was rated at up to 32 pages per minute with a duty cycle of 30,000 pages.

Supplies for the 5300 series include separate drum and toner cartridges. The 3,000 standard and 8,000 high yield toner cartridges are nearly identical; only the toner loads and flag gears differ. These flag gears must be reset for proper operation. There is no chip required.

Brother HL-5370