I ordered a Brother MFC 9700 for $375.99 plus shipping from Amazon today. My Canon multi-function printer died right after my HP 4L went out of service after 9 years of service. I never liked the Canon printer. On Buy.com, there're almost all good reviews on MFC 9700 except that it may not have good network driver for network printing.
I need a multi-function laser printer
- Thread starter nitro
- Start date
Hmmm,
I have thought about this, but I am not convinced.
Take faxing. The only thing that shares with the "printer" is the printing of the fax I cannot envision a problem there. On the sending side, no intersection. Can't see a problem there.
Take scanning. That clearly shares functionality with the fax. Don't see a problem there.
Take copying. That shares functionality with the printer and scanning, none with the faxing directly.
To me, asking these things of a multifunction unit is like asking a "multifunction" boat to float in a lake or in the ocean. It is when I try to abuse the boat that was not made to go in rough waters in an ocean do I see potential problems (in other words, treat this printer as something that can do 10000 pages of printing a month, or send/receive 1000 faxes a day, etc.)
Many of the functionality that these units share are electronic, not moving parts. I would not be surprised to learn that the components they used in a multifunction unit also had a greater MTBF of their individual counterparts, as they expect that the product will see more action per unit.
However, point well taken.
nitro
I have thought about this, but I am not convinced.
Take faxing. The only thing that shares with the "printer" is the printing of the fax I cannot envision a problem there. On the sending side, no intersection. Can't see a problem there.
Take scanning. That clearly shares functionality with the fax. Don't see a problem there.
Take copying. That shares functionality with the printer and scanning, none with the faxing directly.
To me, asking these things of a multifunction unit is like asking a "multifunction" boat to float in a lake or in the ocean. It is when I try to abuse the boat that was not made to go in rough waters in an ocean do I see potential problems (in other words, treat this printer as something that can do 10000 pages of printing a month, or send/receive 1000 faxes a day, etc.)
Many of the functionality that these units share are electronic, not moving parts. I would not be surprised to learn that the components they used in a multifunction unit also had a greater MTBF of their individual counterparts, as they expect that the product will see more action per unit.
However, point well taken.
nitro
I bought an MC 4800 - the hardware is great, and running costs for the laser are cheap. However, the driver software is horrible, and is VERY unreliable under XP Pro.
Not sure if they made better s/w for the later models though.
Not sure if they made better s/w for the later models though.
This can be a true horror story. Over the years, I have been confronted several times with printer drivers of different makes.
(1) For a just realeased printer software shipped with the printer is often unreliable. Manufacturers have support services well trained in shrugging off customers faced with such troubles;
(2) It takes a lot of time for the manufacturer to come up with a solution and the new software is sometimes not only difficult to find but they switched to some kind of a licensing scheme you don't qualify for - a lot of internet seeking may help you in finding a nugget;
(3) When the time comes to upgrade your operating system, you find out that your long fought for solution no longer works and you are back at square one. Worse, your manufacturer seems to have lost interest in your now not so new product;
(4) Be especially careful if you want to use your printer with Linux. I must say that as of late I found to my surprise that several printers that gave me problens under Windoz are 100% detected and supported under recent Linux distros.
Good luck,
nononsense
Duh, either Amazon or FedEx messed up my order. The printer was returned w/o my knowledge. Both Amazon and Buy.com jacked up their price. It's $399.99 now.
I needed a printer as I use it in my day job....I looked at Nitro's links for the Brother MFC-9700 and checked the current prices on the internet...
Well...I went to office depot and it was 398.00 plus tax and they had it in stock....that was good and no shipping I just put it in my van and can test it for 14 days to see if I want to keep it...
An incredible thing happened to me......I saw their little 4 page color advertisement at the entrance when I walked in and grabbed it.....It said 10% off all Black & White laser printers...but the Brother MFC-9700 was not there.... I said to the girl that I was buying a Black & White laser printer but she could not get the code to work to give me 10% off....(I think this is considered a multi-function printer, but hey its still a black and white one too!)
SHE GAVE ME 10% OFF!!!!!! OUT THE DOOR $388.88
Michael B.
P.S. Two rebate checks came today in the mail from 2 free phones I picked up last month from Staples and max
Well...I went to office depot and it was 398.00 plus tax and they had it in stock....that was good and no shipping I just put it in my van and can test it for 14 days to see if I want to keep it...
An incredible thing happened to me......I saw their little 4 page color advertisement at the entrance when I walked in and grabbed it.....It said 10% off all Black & White laser printers...but the Brother MFC-9700 was not there.... I said to the girl that I was buying a Black & White laser printer but she could not get the code to work to give me 10% off....(I think this is considered a multi-function printer, but hey its still a black and white one too!)
SHE GAVE ME 10% OFF!!!!!! OUT THE DOOR $388.88
Michael B.
P.S. Two rebate checks came today in the mail from 2 free phones I picked up last month from Staples and max
I just got mine from buy.com for $375.99 plus shipping. The only drawback of the MFC 9700 is that my light bulb will dim if it's printing. It draws too much power! The spec says it needs 970 W when in operation mode. Standby 75W and Sleep 15W.