Brother MFC-7840W

I read a lot of reviews before eventually settling on this all-in-one printer. I wanted a laser because I don't print much and didn't want the ink drying out (that and I hate the way inkjets print). I… also wanted a scanner to digitize my pictures and documents so I can email them. And I wanted a copier. (No use for a fax so I can't comment on that function.) And I particularly wanted wireless to reduce clutter and enable me to locate the printer anywhere. This model fit all those needs. I printed a Word document, copied it, and scanned a Christmas card--all looked good to me. I read some people had problems with the wireless connectivity. Not me. I input my WEP key and the printer hooked up to my router with no further help (follow the quick start guide). Then I loaded the software on my PC and it printed/scanned without any configuration on my part. Piece of cake. I did have to skip the paperport function on the install because it's not set up for Windows 7 yet, but Brother's releasing updated software in early December so that should sort itself out then. I also read the printer caused lights to flicker and PCs to switch to UPS when it kicked on. I plugged it into it's own outlet and have had no problems. I'm not a small business so my needs are basic and undemanding. Some reviewers thought this unit was a bit flimsy. Maybe, but I think with reasonable care the personal user isn't going to break it. It's hard to beat the functionality for this price (I bought it from Amazon for $284 with free shipping.)

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I bought the Brother MFC-7830W about 11 months ago now. I did some pretty heavy research before making the investment and decided that this was what was the best bet within our budget. We use it in a home… office, but have not set up the fax yet. We only needed this as a copier, scanner and laser printer. As far as those two features go this has been a great deal for the money. The print quality probably isn't the best possible for photos but it does a decent job for text and it photocopies sheet music quite well. What do you need a black and white copier for photos for anyway? We've used this thing fairly heavily for a home office. I just checked the counter and it is at 4,203 copies. I have two computers running to it one is running Windows Vista and the other is an iMac OSX 10.4. Both of them print and scan to/from it without any problems via a wireless router. The only negatives I've run into with this is that we've gone through the initial toner cartridge and a hi-capacity cartridge in less than a year. My guess is we're about half way through another Hi-Capacity cartridge. Also the glass is a little small for copying large books, so it can be a bit of a struggle capturing things like sheet music at times. I actually decided it was faster for me to scan 15 pages on my Epson flat bed scanner and print it out of Adobe InDesign. My girlfriend is a teacher and uses it to photocopy text books for worksheets etc. She never complains about that so it probably will work for most applications unless your a picky print/graphics snob like me. The Brother MFC-7830W scanner doesn't produce a very high quality scan so don't expect to use its scanner for professional quality graphic design work. However, it will work in a pinch if you're on deadline and your Epson flakes out. All in all a great buy for the money.

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I have used brother printers for several years at home. As of now I have older HL-1440(still working), newer HL-5370DW and most recent this one MFC-7840w. HL-5370DW works fine except sometime quits wireless… connectivity with router and printing will not work from wireless laptop or wired desktop computers. For MFC-7840w, main issues for me are FAX and scanning. After working with brother tech, my fax problem could not get resolved. At the end, I was told that brother do not support/gaurantee faxing over VOIP(voice over IP)phone lines. I told them, sending fax works but receiving quits after few seconds. We tried several configurations but same problem. So if you buy this printer and fax is one of the feature important to you, please test it within the window of product return. I request others to post their experience if their fax receiving works OK with VOIP lines or what they have to do to make it work. Scanning document experience is similar to others. Brother needs to improve scan feature as this feature is also very important to people buying this MFC(multi function center) printer for the said purpose. Wireless printing is fine except once in a while loosing wireless connectivity with router. copying is fine. Wish brother allowed printing from or scanning documents to USB drive as USB interface is available on printer.

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This is a great printer! I have owned many HP's in the past and always had issues with the printing and scanning software locking up so I decided to purchase another brand. I settled on this Brother model… and have not been dissappointed. I use it to scan bills and receipts into Quicken daily and I print items occasionally. I always had issues with ink drying up on my injets previously because I didn't print often enough. Lasers do not have this issue and that is one of the reasons for getting this model.

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