Short lived printer

We purchased the 2700CN about two years ago, due to its low price and good output and the fact that our old HP Laserjet III+ couldn't handle printing pdf's or other memory-intensive documents, which we frequently need to print. Upon putting it into service in our small office of three workers, we found that the wakeup from sleep seems long and noisy (we jokingly call it our squirrel in a cage). Not too long and we were replacing the black toner cartridge and one of the color toner cartridges. About eight months into use, we noticed streaks in the printouts. A service tech told us we needed an OPC belt, but could go a while longer. The page count was around 13000--on a part that is slated to go 120000 according to the literature. Now printouts are more heavily streaked and the printer periodically makes a grinding noise from time to time. The service tech tells us that it needs a fuser unit. The OPC belt is available for around $220 on ebay ($400 at retail) and the fuser unit is available for around $200 on ebay (also $400 at retail). The parts needed after two years total the cost of the printer (sound like the other reviews?). We've gotten nowhere near the expected life out of this printer and I don't feel we're expecting too much. If you're purchasing for a small office, go ahead and make your first printer your last--spend some money and get a printer you'll still be using 5-10 years from now, rather than think you're saving money and have to replace the unit in a year or two.

Features of the printer: 31 ppm black and 8 ppm color 2400 x 600 dpi max resolution with 250 sheet capacity in standard paper drawer (which is pretty easy to load as far as printers go) and additional 500 sheet capacity with optional tray. The monochrome LCD display is backlit for easier reading, and the unit comes ready to be connected to your network through the installed network card or direct to your computer via USB. Standard memory is 64MB, but is upgradeable to 512MB if you require. The printer is rated at 30,000 pages monthly monochrome and 5,000 pages color, which would be appropriate for small office with light printing requirements. Brother also provides a CD with drivers and clear and helpful video information on regular maintenance/cleaning as well as toner replacement and jam clearing.