Brother MFC-8420 Laser Multifunction Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I went through a slew of hp printers. I experienced lousy, "outsourced" technical support, and had two printers fail in the same year. This on the heels of my friends brand new color laser fiasco, which was three failures in one year (also HP). They used to be the best, with printers like the 4050n and other tireless workhorses, but I think other vendors are now making significant inroads, especially in this middle ground space. You'll find HP laser printers to be profoundly expensive for what they buy, with high print costs, and low ram. The 1300 is a fine example of where HP has gone wrong.
So, we took the plunge on this 8420 (we got the "one up" D model, which includes duplexing -- works like a charm, and at about 1c a page (as the cost of paper) it will pay for itself quickly).
The upsides:
1) Very cheap toner. Especially the high yield. 6k pages for 90 bucks, which is more than any other cartridge we could find (and you get get those cheaper than 90 some places)
2) Very convenient. You've no idea how awesome a 50 page sheetfed scanner with OCR actually is until you need it. ;-)
3) Comes with a full toner cartridge. My hp's came with 1/2 full "intro" ones.
4) Best-of-breed. For it's downsides (below), it really is the best you can buy for the money.
5) It doesn't jam.
The downsides are:
1) It's a little slow to copy
2) High end color scans are not that hot. A little flat. If you want high end color scans, drop 60 bucks and buy a Scanjet 5300c. The scanner is really designed for document processing, at which it excels.
3) It's a little pricey to buy in. The high end models are overpriced for what they buy (duplexing for ~100 bucks, network for another 100-150). Yikes.
4) The software is a little "clunky", but it works
5) The warranty pretty much stinks (1 year). If you can get an extended warranty, it's a [really] good idea. With so many components, all-in-ones have that much more of a chance to fail, and they do. ;-)
Remember, inkjet printers are sold practically at a loss by their manufacturers (especially cheaper ones). They are designed to make up their money in ink cartridges. This is important when you are comparing all-in-ones.
Despite it's minor downsides, I'd highly reccomend this ot a friend. If you need something to get your business off the ground like we did, and don't want to spend a fortune or worry about being in constant IT mode keeping everything configured and working smoothly, this is the way to go. Faxing is a breeze, scanning is easy (50 docs at a time is a LOT btw), and printing is very high quality.
We combined this with a cheap bubblejet, and now we have the best of all possible worlds. We reccomend this route!!!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC-8420 Laser Multifunction

Winner of the prestigious Editor's Choice Award from PC Magazine and combining all the necessary office machines into a single box, the Brother MFC-8420 is an excellent addition for home businesses or small networks. Including a laser printer and copier, color and monochrome scanner, and a 33.6 Kpbs modem fax, this convenient desktop assistant offers all the functions you need to keep printing and mailing costs to a minimum.
The monochrome laser printer and copier produces letter or legal sized pages at up to 17 ppm, with an outstanding 2,400 x 600 dpi resolution. Up to 99 copies can be sorted or reduced or enlarged at a range of 25 to 400 percent; manual two-sided printing helps you save on consumables. The scanner operates in either 48-bit color or 256-level grayscale, enabling you to scan full-color photos or monochrome documents. Either way, with an interpolated resolution up to 9,600 x 9,600 dpi, your scans will be impeccably smooth.
The fax provides a variety of sending and retrieval options designed to improve efficiency. Broadcast faxes up to 390 stations, or speed dial to any of up to 300 coded numbers. The 50-sheet automatic document feeder frees you from having to baby sit the box, while the 600-page memory guards against paper shortages. The MFC-8420 includes a one-year warranty with instant exchange service.

Click here for more information about Brother MFC-8420 Laser Multifunction

Read More...

Hewlett Packard 1020 Plain Paper Fax Machine Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pretty much every major annoyance you've encountered in a fax machine is present in this thing. First, I receive faxes on a daily basis and the 25 or so blank pages I can insert are not enough. If I try and put more than 25 pages in it will jam or feed two or more pages at one time. Second, you can see the wire attachment catches the faxes we send. What about the faxes we receive? It spits them out on the bottom to land all over the desk or floor. Hey HP - this isn't rocket science here. Don't you think buyers would've liked some kind of tray to catch the incoming faxes? Third, (and most annoying) it simply doesn't work properly. Even though it's supposed to detect the difference, about one in four incoming faxes are picked up by the internal answering machine instead of the fax. Fourth, the answering machine will come on if someone calls and you don't pick up in four rings. Other machines can detect if you pick up another line and usually stop the message. This one can't.
Is there anything good about it? Well, if the fax connection is successful it does print ok faxes at about one page per 30 seconds to one minute. It's quiet for a fax since it's basically an inkjet printer. Scans of basic black text copy ok, but it's evident the page was scanned, photocopies still look better. Definitely don't use it to copy pages that need to have a professional look.
I've returned this once already, the replacement is just as bad. This model has just too many problems for me to be able to recommend it to anyone.
Hope the review helped.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Hewlett Packard 1020 Plain Paper Fax Machine

With over a dozen built-in features and a 100-number programmable speed dial, the HP 1020 plain paper fax machine fits right in with your other topnotch office machines. The 20-page automatic document feeder frees you from hovering while the pages are sent, and with a top speed of 8 pages per second, your faxes will arrive on your client's desk in no time. The 65-page memory insures you'll get all your faxes, even if you run out of paper on a busy weekend, while the call-forwarding option lets you send important documents to your home machine.
Included are a telephone with hands-free speaker and a digital answering device; the HP 1020 is also able to make up to 99 copies from a single original. Hewlett Packard provides a one-year warranty that covers parts and service.

Click here for more information about Hewlett Packard 1020 Plain Paper Fax Machine

Read More...

Brother MFC9600 Flatbed Laser Multifunction Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)We bought the MFC9600 in early 2000. It appears to have all the popular functions integrated into a nicely designed unit. However, after 3 months of light usuage, serious problems started to appear. First bands started to appear on the copied pages. Changing the toner cartridge did not help. Then the paper feeder for the flatbed started jaming paper. Forget about faxing multi-page documents. We started calling the "beast", the "paper eating machine". It does a "better job" in shredding paper than faxing or copying, if you have to use the paper feeder. Even the faxed document comes out to be with disappointing poor quality.
This product appears to have the right idea of including highly integrated office automation functions. It just does not have the quality that makes this to be the workhorse for a small office. We ended up buying an HP 3200 to do the faxing and laser printing and still trying to figure out what to do with the MFC9600 that we bought.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC9600 Flatbed Laser Multifunction

Do you feel you spend too much time in your office? You can create more free time and increase your productivity with the Brother International MFC9600 three-in-one multifunction center, combining a fax machine, copier, and printer. It provides the solution for high productivity and creativity with black and white printing and copying and flatbed color scanning. These functions are designed to work together at the touch of a button, all without leaving your home or office.
The Brother MFC9600 multifunction center is designed to support speedy printing (up to 23 ppm), copying, and faxing. It prints on a variety of papers, including envelopes, transparencies, label sheets, and letter and legal at resolutions of 600 x 600 dpi and 300 x 600 in color (1,200 x 1,200 dpi interpolated resolution). Digital copies and scans are easy, whether you're connected to a computer or not. The copier makes 12 cpm, with reduction/enlargement from 50 to 400 percent in 1-percent increments. You can print and sort up to 99 multiple copies at one time. The flatbed scanner accepts books and magazines and includes the OCR software to convert printed text into a digital text file.
A high-speed fax (five seconds per page) automatically feeds up to 30 pages. With the included SmithMicro software, you can send documents as faxes directly from your PC, as well. And there are more features to the MFC9600: a 700-page fax reception memory allows you to scan in faxes and delay sending (and protects your incoming faxes in case the machine runs out ofpaper), fax forwarding and paging, remote fax retrieval, and auto dial.
Multitasking saves you time and dual access allows you to scan a fax into the memory while another is being received. Compatible with both Macintosh and PC, the Brother MFC9600 has a total memory of 8 MB. Brother offers a one-year limited warranty. --Barbara Price

Click here for more information about Brother MFC9600 Flatbed Laser Multifunction

Read More...

Remanufactured Brother Fax-575 Personal Plain-Paper Fax Machine, Phone, and Copier Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I ordered the Brother's Phone/Fax machine and couldn't be happier with the price and the product. I couldn't believe how fast my order was processed and received. Thanks for the great service!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Remanufactured Brother Fax-575 Personal Plain-Paper Fax Machine, Phone, and Copier

A convenient communications tool for a range of personal and home office applications, the remanufactured Fax-575 combines a compact plain-paper fax machine with a phone and copier, making it a terrific space-saver for people working in crowded office environments. Brother specifically designed the Fax-575 with home phones in mind, with automatic switching between fax and telephone modes so you can receive both faxes and calls on a single line. The fax component also offers such features as a 9.6 kbps modem with a transmission speed of around 15 seconds per page; the ability to store up to 25 received pages on its 512 KB of internal memory (ideal for when the fax machine runs out of paper); and a quick scan function that speeds up transmission. Add in the 50-sheet paper capacity and fax broadcasting for up to 104 locations and you have a versatile small-business fax machine that can handle almost any essential business task.
The Fax-575 also performs well as a copier, though it's not built for the most demanding copy jobs. Still, the copier function does handle jobs as large as 99 copies, and sorts the pages in the process. It also reduces text down to 50 percent or enlarges it up to 150 percent, with the ability to reproduce any size in between (in one percent increments). The remainder of the time, you can use the Fax-575 as a fully functioning telephone system. The device is compatible with both call waiting and caller ID services (subscription required), so you won't miss any calls and will always know who's calling. Plus, it offers 104-station auto-dialing (with four one-touch keys and 100 speed-dial locations), letting you quickly call or fax friends, business associates, and others without leafing through your address book. And though it doesn't come with a voicemail system, it does include an external answering machine interface.
Additional features include fax forwarding and paging, remote fax retrieval, distinctive ring detection, and a monitor speakerphone. The Fax-575 measures 11.9 by 13.4 by 10.5 inches (W x H x D) and is backed by a 90-day warranty on parts and labor.
What's in the Box Fax-575 fax machine, user's manual.

Get 55% OFF

Click here for more information about Remanufactured Brother Fax-575 Personal Plain-Paper Fax Machine, Phone, and Copier

Read More...

Brother FAX-1860c Color Inkjet Fax, Copier, Phone Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this product to use strictly to send and receive black and white faxes for a 5 person office. It worked great until the color cartridges dried up. After 6 months I had to purchase a set of color ink cartridges just to print out the black and white faxes. A call to Brother's customer service revealed that there is no way around this problem. To spend $45 every 6 months on wasted consumables makes no sense to me! The machine has been fast and trouble free and does produce clear faxes and copies. We have not used the phone feature.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother FAX-1860c Color Inkjet Fax, Copier, Phone

If you need a compact, reliable color inkjet fax with copier and phone functionality, the Brother intelliFax 1860C deserves a look. The fax machine's 33.6 Kbps Super G3 fax modem transmits as fast as three secods per page, while 16MB of internal memory stores up to 300 pages for out-of-paper reception and memory transmission.
The 1860C features a front-loading, 100-sheet paper capacity and a 20-page auto document feeder, making document handling fast and painless. You'll also enjoy fast black and white or color copying--up to 18 cpm in black and white and 16 cpm in color. The unit also boasts up to 1200 x 600 dpi resolution.
When faxing, take advantage of 110-station auto dialing and 10 one-touch keys and 100 speed dial locations for sending documents to your contacts quickly. You also get fax broadcasting for up to 160 locations, while a quick scan mode lets you save faxes for memory transmission. Dual access capability lets you scan faxes into memory while the unit is busy sending or receiving.
Meanwhile, caller ID and distinctive ring detection are built in, as is a USB port for PC connectivity to meet future color printing needs. When printing, the unit boasts up to 25 ppm black and white and 20 ppm color speeds--at up to 6000 x 1200 dpi resolution.

Click here for more information about Brother FAX-1860c Color Inkjet Fax, Copier, Phone

Read More...

Brother FAX-575 Personal Fax, Phone, and Copier Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Bought this to have a fax machine at home. It was easy to set up. Doesn't take up much space on the desk and you have a built in phone with caller ID, too. The copy machine part of fax makes nice clean copies, too. This wouldn't be very cost effective if you are going to receive a lot of faxes or make a lot of copies. It is great for someone like me who has to fax stuff for work occasionally and doesn't want to drive to the library and pay $2.00 a page.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother FAX-575 Personal Fax, Phone, and Copier

Monochrome Copier - Thermal Transfer - Group 3 - Fax/Copier

Get 44% OFF

Click here for more information about Brother FAX-575 Personal Fax, Phone, and Copier

Read More...

Brother MFC-7225N 5-in-1 Monochrome Laser Multi-Function Center with Built-In Networking Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had the Brother MFC 4350 for 7 years and loved it. I finally decided to upgrade to a new Brother MFC 7225N. The printer installed very easily. The printer quality is very good and overall, I think I'm happy with the purchase. Two pet peeves:
1) The machine is much louder than the MFC 4350 when its printing. If you have home office, you probably can't print a large document and talk on the phone at the same time because of the noise.
2) The top and the bottom of the printed pages curl up. For home use, this will probably be ok. If you are printing proposals or official business-related stuff, this may annoy you. (not as professional looking)


Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC-7225N 5-in-1 Monochrome Laser Multi-Function Center with Built-In Networking

Get 28% OFF

Click here for more information about Brother MFC-7225N 5-in-1 Monochrome Laser Multi-Function Center with Built-In Networking

Read More...

Brother MFC-495CW Inkjet Color Multifunction Center with Wireless Networking for the Small Office/Home Office Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had this for two months (now several months, see note at bottom), the first part being additional thoughts, with newer at the bottom. If you're considering this printer there are things that I think you might want to know. Note: All of my comments are based on both setting up and using this on a wired ethernet connection.
(Update: This review was written based on installation on an XP system, but I downloaded the Windows 7 64-bit software and it installed fine. I haven't yet seen any issues with it on Win 7. Two weeks into this, it's working fine on Win 7 and XP.)
Pros:
1) Physical impressions: This is an attractive unit, mostly shiny black and matte charcoal. The color LCD screen is pleasant, and the buttons (for general use, more on setup later) are straightforward.
2) Interface: Pretty, and fairly easy to follow. There are some needlessly obtuse icons which, given the space available, don't need to be that way, but all in all it's not hard to use. Fun thing: My unit wanted a firmware update, and while doing the update you get a bit of an audio and visual extravaganza, for what reason I don't know.
3) Print Quality: The printing is good quality. Text is very good for an ink-jet, even to Courier at 8 pts, which is small as the driver lets you go. Photos are about par for the course on regular ink-jet paper. Also, if allowed to dry completely, it was more resistant to smearing (with a wet finger) than most ink-jet inks.
4) Setup (Wired Ethernet): I found this very quick to do, but then I'm used to setting up network printers so knew exactly what I wanted to do. Suggestion: If you want to assign a static IP address to the printer, use the network menu on the printer itself to assign the numbers before starting the installation and to tell it that you want it to use a static IP address, as the install is a bit more straightforward.
5) Faxing: works fine (haven't tried color faxing, don't have a unit that will handle that on the other end) from both PC and printer itself and is pretty quick. (Important as the 'little brother' to this machine has a much slower fax modem.)
Cons:
1) Physical Impressions: This unit feels a bit delicate to me. When removing all of the green tabs and such I felt as though I could very easily break things, and I've never felt that before. When using it I continued to feel as though I could break things, for instance: When opening the lid to place something on the platen, the right hinge seems to want to come off; the paper tray is a bit 'complex' as it has to handle different types/sizes of paper, and it is very flimsy. (Note that I have owned 3 other Brother printers and have never felt this way.)
2) Interface: The menus to setup things are about the same level of complexity as most of these units or as a digital camera. That's fine except that sometimes going back a level just can't be done and you have to exit the menu system and come back in. Annoying, but once you've got things set up who really cares. Another amusing thing: You can select between about 4 'wallpapers' for the LCD, and while they are pleasant enough, they are very multi-colored and make it harder to actually see the information. Oh, and there are a couple of things that just don't work: For instance, the option for how many seconds the backlight should stay on has 4 options: 10, 20, 30 seconds and 'off'. One expects that the 'off' setting would mean just to leave the backlight on, but that doesn't seem to work.
3) Scanning: While easy enough to do from the PC (even over the network, which is sometimes difficult with products in this class) the scanning software is pretty basic, and lacks things I always had on even inexpensive dedicated scanners like de-screening mode. Not a big deal, but you'll need to do more of the work in a graphics program than you would otherwise.
4) Setup (Wired Network): At first, though all seemed fine, the software on the PC kept thinking that the printer was off-line, though the printer didn't think so. Eventually just cycling through the printer booting a couple of times fixed things.
5) Copier: (NOTE CHANGE OF FEELING ABOU THIS AT END OF PARAGRAPH) WARNING: I would never buy this if you intend to use it as a stand-alone copier, even if only lightly. Why? I put a page of B&W double-spaced text and it took it between 1.5 and 2 minutes to copy. I honestly thought that that device had gotten 'stuck' and was going to power it off. But eventually the copy came out. What's strange is that if you do the copy from the PC it works much better. In that case, it seems clear that the Brother software is scanning the image to the PC, then sending it out as a print, and it happens in about half the time. And this is with the copy set to Normal and B&W. (UPDATE: I'm leaving this here in case it happens to someone else, but I need to say that after the first couple of copies, things changed and this problem disappeared. It's still not a really fast copier, but 30 seconds for a typical B&W page is workable.)
6)Flash drive support: This printer supports capture of photos from flash cards such as CF, SD, etc. This works, but in a very cumbersome manner: Other printers I've had that allowed one to read from flash cards (CF, SD, etc) mounted the card with a drive letter, so that one could access it using a standard Windows Explorer interface. Instead, you must start the Brother Control Center, which treats is in an 'ftp-like' manner. Does it work? Yes it does, but it feels a little crude and awkward compared to the competition.WOULD I BUY THIS? Depends on the price: The price on amazon typically varies between $99 and $129. At $99 it's very competitive, but at $129 I'm not sure. The longer I have it the more I like it, with the caveat that one has to be very careful with the paper tray.
TWO MONTHS: My plan was to use my little B&W Brother laser for all B&W printing (or when I didn't care about the color) and use this for photos, faxing, etc. However, while the warm-up time on the laser isn't bad, I find myself using this when I don't feel like waiting for that, and it's OK.
UPDATE ABOUT CLEANING. First, I've had this thing a couple of months and have printed about 24 pages. At various times (I leave it on all of the time, but it's on a network and so isn't affected by turning a computer on and off) it has done what I think is a quick clean. Maybe it was, maybe not - the event only took about 5 seconds.) So today, out of the clear blue sky, it started a real cleaning: It was incredibly loud, and took (I swear) at least a minute to complete. I have had ink jet printers off and on since the late 80's, and I've never seen such an involved process.
Please note that I wasn't starting a print job or doing anything else. I assume that it has some sort of scheduling algorithm that does a cleaning at certain intervals if it's turned on. This seems to me a waste (as cleaning uses ink, and I could probably cause this not to happen by leaving the unit off, but that kinds of defeats the purpose of the fax machine capability.SCANNER NOTE: The light for the scanner is very bright: If there is an image on the other side of what you're scanning, it will 'bleed through' to the scan. I've had two other dedicated scanners and this doesn't happen. This won't be an issue for very thick paper or paper with nothing on the other side of it, but it blew my hopes of dumping my stand-alone scanner.
LATEST NOTE: I recently had to do a lot of faxing out for tax stuff, and I have to say that I'm impressed with how well it handled the faxing. There were two things I specifically noticed: 1) The document feeder works well *BUT* you have to make sure you push the paper firmly in or the document feeder doesn't work. The trick is to first push the papers against it until "ADF" appears on the LCD, and then start the faxing. It reads all of the pages into memory and faxes them. 2) The speed is fine, esp given that I was using the "fine" setting. This is one advantage over the 'smaller brother' of the 495 which has a modem that is half as fast as this. My point to this note is that I was impressed that this thing worked just as well as our much more expensive dedicated business fax machine does for sending.
I've upgraded this from 3 stars to 4 as it's rather grown on me.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC-495CW Inkjet Color Multifunction Center with Wireless Networking for the Small Office/Home Office

Click here for more information about Brother MFC-495CW Inkjet Color Multifunction Center with Wireless Networking for the Small Office/Home Office

Read More...

Brother MFC-9120CN High Quality Digital Color All-in-One Printer with Fax and Networking Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this Brother printer to replace an HP 2840 color laser. I like the Brother. It's smaller and quieter. It doesn't have to calibrate a couple times a day either. Scans are way faster than the HP and the scan quality if far better than the HP. Copies and printing are great, as expected. I don't ever fax so I can't address it's capabilities there.
I found one limitation with this printer that prevented me from giving it five stars. The printer can only be used as a network printer attached to the router via an Ethernet cable or it can be a workstation printer supporting one PC attached via a USB cable. If your using Windows networking to share the printer (i.e. it's connected to one PC via USB and enabled for print sharing), it's not supported. What? You got it. Brother won't let you share the printer other than to have it setup as a network printer attached to the router.
This is an issue if, like me, the router is nowhere near the printer and you want to do a lot of scanning using the PC based utilities vs. the little screen on the printer. You can scan with it as a network printer but you can only do it using the function keys on the printer itself. You lose the benefits of the PC software based approach. If you do any volume of scanning, you want the PC utilities enabled.
I was able to work around the problem and get it working like I wanted but it took a couple days working on and off to sort out. I called Brother technical support. They kindly told me the printer doesn't support what I wanted to do and I should return the product. What? Unbelievable!!
To get it to work as a shared USB attached printer, you have to go through the CD install process on each PC. That's okay once you understand that's the process.
The only remaining limitation is quickly setting up a temporary shared user. Say your brother-in-law is in town for the weekend and needs to print. He can't use the Windows "Add a printer" function and get to your Brother printer. You have to go find the CD and do a full install for your brother-in-law to print his Mapquest directions home. It's not a huge problem but Brother should not have designed it this way.
Hope it helps somebody.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother MFC-9120CN High Quality Digital Color All-in-One Printer with Fax and Networking

Get 42% OFF

Click here for more information about Brother MFC-9120CN High Quality Digital Color All-in-One Printer with Fax and Networking

Read More...

Brother IntelliFax 4750e High-Performance Business-Class Laser Fax Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I debated and researched for weeks on different fax machines and brands. I had an older brother fax machine (5-6 years). It worked great but I had broken one of the trays and didn't hold a lot of paper. I debated some of the Multi-function copier-printer-faxes. For only a few dollars more I could get one that duplexes and every other option imaginable. I have a copier. I have printers. I needed a fax. I receive 100-150 faxes a day. This is simply a great fax machine. Nothing more and absolutely nothing else. It is quiet and extremely fast. "Pick one thing and do it great" - this is what this machine does. It isn't OK at a lot. It's great at one thing. It sends and receives faxes.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Brother IntelliFax 4750e High-Performance Business-Class Laser Fax

This business class laser fax with 8 MB memory can store up to 600 pages for out-of-paper reception or fax broadcasting to up to 282 separate locations. Dual-access capability and Quick Scan let you scan faxes into memory as fast as two seconds per page while the unit is busy sending or receiving. Plus, its laser engine prints faxes in sharp detail at up to 15 ppm.
A 250-sheet standard paper capacity (letter or legal), up to 50-page auto document feeder, and 232 station auto dialing (32 one-touch keys, plus 200 speed dial locations) combine with a high monthly duty cycle and high yield consumables to handle demanding business applications. An optional second, lower 250-sheet paper tray is available for handling higher-volume applications, or for loading different paper sizes simultaneously.
Delivering high-speed laser performance and reliability at low operating costs, the 4750e also copies at up to 15 copies/minute, sorts, enlarges, and reduces (50 to 200 percent). Built-in parallel and USB interfaces support future printing needs. A printer driver is available for download at solutions.brother.com. The unit includes super G3 33.6 kbps support and a four-day battery back-up. It is backed by a one-year warranty.

Get 46% OFF

Click here for more information about Brother IntelliFax 4750e High-Performance Business-Class Laser Fax

Read More...