Brother IntelliFax-4100e

Bottom line

Though it's a little more expensive than some fax machines, its lower consumables cost makes the Brother IntelliFax-4100e a great value for offices that do a lot of faxing. Fast performance, high-quality prints and scans, and robust paper handling are other pluses. The Brother IntelliFax-4100e can also serve as a copier, scanner and even a computer printer.

Performance

Speedy, quality faxes. The Brother IntelliFax-4100e is a speedy (three seconds per page) laser fax machine with a fairly high paper capacity (up to 500 pages). The Brother IntelliFax-4100e receives praise from owners for its sharp, clear outgoing and incoming faxes, and its quiet performance. Using basic features -- faxing, scanning, copying -- is easy enough, though some feedback indicates that you'll need to spend a little time with the manual to take advantage of everything that this office laser fax machine has to offer. There aren't complaints about paper jams, but the backlit display can be difficult to read if the fax is at eye level, some say.

Features

Efficient and feature packed. In addition to faxing, the Brother IntelliFax-4100e scans, copies and can print from a computer (though you'll need to download drivers from Brother's website and supply your own printer cable). It ships with a 250-sheet letter/legal paper tray and can optionally accept a second tray for a total capacity of 500 sheets. Load different paper types in the trays and the fax machine will automatically select the right paper size to accommodate incoming faxes. There's also a 30-sheet automatic document feeder and sufficient memory to hold up to 500 document pages. Document memory backup will save stored documents for up to four days in the event of a power outage. The Brother IntelliFax-4100e can broadcast faxes to up to 182 locations.

Value

A long-term value. Although the initial cost of this laser fax machine is higher than that of competing fax machines, the cost per printed page is lower. The Brother IntelliFax-4100e ships with a standard toner cartridge good for 3,000 pages, and replacement high-capacity cartridges (Est. $65) will output up to 6,000 pages. For lighter duty, we very much like the Brother IntelliFax-2840 (Est. $145) . However, that printer ships with only a 700-page starter toner cartridge and the best-value high-capacity cartridge (Est. $55) is only rated for 2,600 pages.