Brother HL-1210 Mono Laser - Drum replacement??

[alphason]

I have a Brother HL-1210W mono laser printer,  around 16 months old but this problem has been getting slowly worse after about only 6 months. Its only used lightly and its still on the original toner which is showing as around 60% full. The print quality is getting quite bad now, worse on the left side of the page with small dots all over page and light print.

 

Done all the cleaning routines several times with only small benefits. If I look at the drum some places are marked with dull spots which stand out against the normal shiny surface, so I think its the drum that needs replacing which seems rather quick if I have not even been through 1 toner yet.

 

It is still under warranty and Brother wants me to take it to the service centre, where it will be repaired free except for the cost of parts.. But I guess that the part from Brother will be more expensive, so if its only the drum its probably quicker and cheaper to change it myself. Originals are around 700B on Lazada, copies around 500B for the whole drum assembly or less if I buy just the drum.

 

Am I right in thinking the problem is only the drum? Are the copy drums ok or is it worth the extra for an orginal?

 

Thanks.