Brother MFC-9840CDW Multifunction Printer - MFC9840CDW
Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multi-Function Center with Wireless Networking

I have had this printer for about a year now. It has provided flawless operation and was incredibly easy to set up. I wirelessly connect it to my router and all computers on the network can print to it. My daughter no longer uses the ink jet in her room because this one provides better print quality and does not use ink that smears when it gets wet. I've also used the scan features many times scanning manuals, etc to compactly store on my computer so I can toss the paper. I went through the first set of cartridges except yellow at about 2800 images (including prints of many pictures which uses more toner I'm sure). I bought the high capacity cartridges for the refill and am nowhere near using them up.
 
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A very sturdy machine with lots of capability; I have not used them all yet. Large and heavy--and yes, takes 30 sec or so to warm up. Color copies are excellent! I printed a color AutoCAD drawing that had text so small you need a magnifying glass to see it--still very clear. I installed it using the ethernet connection--flawless installation, no problems whatsoever. Also, the toner cartridges install easily and are fairly user-friendly.
 
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I have had the MFC for about a month. Works Great. Does draw a deal of power warming up which can effect other electronics on the same line. Wireless scanning and printing is excellent. Duplex feature continues to save me paper. Highly recommended unit.
 
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Have used all areas of this item: Scanner has excellent detail and clarity. Copier is good and clear. Black and white printer is sharp and excellent. Color printer I find the colors to be a bit dull. Previous color laser printer owned was Okidata C5150. Fax is easy to use. Overall I am pleased with the purchase and feel it is a good buy. I also own a brother laser fax previously that was a work horse and which greatly influenced my purchase. I expect the same from this as well. Would highly recommend this product. Wireless capability is excellent.
 
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This color printer exceeds my expectations. Had no problem setting up wireless access. As the other posts suggest this machine positively destroys envelopes and makes them unusable for business purposes. Called Brother tech support and discovered there are two little toggles under the back cover you flip while printing envelopes. No problem at all now. Will take up to three minutes to print from the time you switch the power on, but once it prints the first page the rest fly off. Got it on buy.com for $480 delivered. For standard business use like color stationary, brochures, etc - I can't imagine there is a better overall value in a multi function color laser out there.
 
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I own two of these printers. The second I bought from buy.com because of better pricing. I have used the printer wirelessly and love this capability since I can do work on a laptop around the house, hit print and collect my printed work when I'm done with all my tasks. The only issue I have with this printer is the warm up time to make copies. I own two other brother MFC's and they copy much faster. Also this printer takes up a larger footprint but I like that it's extremely sturdy. The color copies are great. I have used Brother along side HP's and I like the value and printing I get with Brother. The toner is not as expensive as HP and coupons at Office Depot work with Brother and not HP. Overall it's a great printer save for the copy feature. I would recommend this to friends. I was a little nervous buying from Buy.com for the first time but was pleasantly surprised by their speed of service!
 
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Good experience - from buying the unit from Buy.com (best price and very good prior experiences) to receiving it from FedEx (on-time, helped unload, friendly) to installing it and beginning to use. The entire experience very good. The 9840MFC unit itself? Excellent! ...Why not a perfect '5'? Decided to install as a network printer (rather than USB) due to physical location - 'wizard' would not recognize printer on network; had to enter IP address. And Brother's partner Nuance (used for ScanSoft) sends unwanted mail until I turned off those marketing messages.
 
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It's perfect, easy to use, reliable and has every function you could want from a large machine in small home office format. The wireless hookup was a breeze and the quality is on par with what I used to go to the copy store for. Couldn't ask for a better MFC. The best part is I got to get rid of 8 other printers, faxes and scanners and a copier!
 
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I bought this printer based on other reviews I've read. I am very happy with the purchase. It took less than half an hour to set up, including linking it to my secure wireless network. The printer comes with all printer cartridges. As other reviewers have said, it is large and heavy but I don't think you could make this machine any smaller based on what it does. The duplex functions work great and for the $500ish I paid it is an amazing machine (I just moved back to the US from New Zealand, where the same machine cost the equivalent of $1200 US).
 
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Unit manages SOHO print jobs with ease. Color management and quality are excellent for the price point and scan/copy feeder works and reads both sides automatically which is a big plus. I found the toner cartridge prices to be more competitive than the HP unit equivalents and the tray is easier to work with. The unit does occupy some space. It's pretty big for a MFC-printer but that's a copramise for all the bells/whitles.
 
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This is an incredible product with everything you could ask for. It is a full laser copier, scanner, fax with Duplex, Wireless network and FULL LEGAL flatbed scanning capability. It was set up and operational very quickly and easily. This system is a dream to use and works very nicely with VISTA so far. The only thing that is a little bit of a drawback is the colors are not as true as some other color printers. All things considered, this has all the features you may ever need for a small home office.
 
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Although a short time owner, I am very satisfied with this product. It was easy to get up and running (hardest part is unpacking the box(es)and the color copying/printing results have been very good, completely within my expectations. It's not a Heidelberg, but then it's a few bucks cheaper, too. The instruction manual falls a bit short, but the only issue I've had so far, involving MSWord, was handled quickly and efficiently by tech support--once I found them.
 
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This is my first Laser printer and I love it. If I was forced to say anything negative about it, I whould say: It is a huge, heavy machine so cannot be moved by one person alone. The colors are good, the machine is not overly noisy, the toner is not as expensive as with many other machines.
 
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I just purchased a second Brother MFC-9840cdw multifunction for my small office. For years, I have been a fan of HP printer products, and had used them almost exclusively. However, for whatever reason, HP doesn't seem to have a current product that fits well into the same niche as this model of brother machine. The Brothers are fast as to all of their various functions; they are reasonably priced; and, they are very versatile. One might say they are almost perfect for a small office ....but: The first machine quickly started showing heavy vertical color banding. Although customer service for routine items has been readily available, knowledgeable, and helpful, when it came to a possible significant mechanical flaw, I hit what appeared to be a real stone wall. Blame was put on the paddles inside the toner cartridges, and replacements (the old version) were sent to me until new ones became available in the chain of distribution. I have yet to receive any re-designed toner cartridges, and I am guessing none will ever be forthcoming. So, by patchwork maintenance under the warranty, our operation of the first machine has improved, but not yet up to its original performance. However, it has so many good qualities, otherwise, that I purchased a second unit this month. It is still working perfectly (the first unit had exhibited its problems early). But, if it causes similar problems, I will be much quicker, and more insistent, to have tech support resolve any problems in a more comprehensive way than has been the case with the first machine. I would guess the on-site warranty that comes with the unit gets expensive for Brother in a hurry when they have to send out a tech. In any event, in spite of the first machine's tech support problems, I nevertheless highly recommend the MFC-9840cdw for all of its very well designed features.
 
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I had been hunting for a good, network connected color laser with duplex capability for a long time. The base printer for this model was already proven and had some good magazine reviews on a lower model so I jumped when this came out (Fall 2007). Here are the issues I have run into so far (after about 9 months of use): <br><br> 1) Envelope handling was obviously not a consideration. At all. It can hold about 4 envelopes at a time and every envelope that passes through comes out crinkled. There are some thick paper and envelope settings on the printer and they seem not to change the battered state of the envelopes after being printed. A business class MFC like this one should be better at envelope handling or offer an envelope handling add-on. <br><br> 2) The printer is slow to come online and get moving. To print a single page on our Laserjet 4200 takes about 5-10 seconds after the command is sent. The 9840CDW takes closer to 30-45 seconds for the same print. Once it gets going the print speed is fine, its just an excessive warmup period. Also, any successive prints (after warmup) fire out quickly. <br><br> 3) The printer simply stops using the toner after a certain number of prints. I think the color toner cartridges that come with this printer are good for about 1500 prints. I was able to keep using them (with a warning) until 2000 prints each at which point the printer forced me to put new toner in. Luckily, I always keep extra on hand for our printers but this hard cutoff is a bad idea... our color was still being delivered perfectly. Also, how does it count out 2000 sheets with respect to the toner delivery on each cartridge? What if all my sheets only had one dot of cyan on them and the toner was still full? <br><br> 4) The printer will sometimes freeze after receiving a fax. After the fax comes in, the status light will go from green to amber (as it should) but after the fax it will just stay amber and cannot receive additional faxes or print commands until restarted. I tried to email Brother Support and they just told me to call them. Unfortunately I lack the time to make it up the chain in their support system to get the issue resolved. The information could be more readily resolved via email anyway. <br><br> Overall the printer is good and we are generally happy with it as it handles the tasks we throw at it. The above issues are problems that should be resolved to make this an excellent or 5 star printer.
 
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I have owned the Brother MFC-CDW9840 for 3 months now. It is by far the best printer I have ever owned. I use it in my home office. It is a huge & heavy machine, but the features & benefits far out way the size. The print quality is excellent. I primarily use it for printing text & interoffice photos. The text is very sharp & crisp. Photo print quality is average, but plenty sufficient for inter-company work. {If photo quality prints are needed it is much cheaper to upload them to the corner drugstore & pick them up as compared to using an ink-jet.} The front drop down cover on the machine works great for feeding letter head. It prints great & I have never had any misfeeds or jambs. {I had previously been using ink-jet printers & became tired of replacing ink cartridges every 3-4 weeks. This Brother machine should pay for itself in the first year as compared to buying ink-jet cartridges. The text is also far crisper than ink-jets & it doesn't smudge.} I use the scan feature extensively as I keep a paperless office. Both the document feeder & flat bed scanner work great. It scans legal size documents on both the flat bed & through the document feeder. The software that comes with the Brother machine is simple, but works very well. Duplex scanning is also a nice feature. I primarily scan to .tif files, which you can edit or add to. The cover to the flat bed scanner seems to be a little fragile, but it has never given me any problems. I try to always gently close it as opposed to letting it slam shut. I love the wireless feature on the machine. It's one less cord that I have to plug into my notebook when I am in & out of the office. I route the machine through my encrypted WIFI router for security. I had some initial difficulty setting up the wireless features on the machine, so I called Brother & they were quickly able to walk me through the setup. I haven't used the fax feature, so I can't comment on it. {I tend to scan documents & send them as .pdf attachments to emails.} I have used the copy feature & works fine. Overall this machine definately earns 5+ Stars. The machine is made very well. Print quality is excellent. The scanning features are great for keeping a paperless office. Overall operating cost seems to be very low. I would definitely highly recommend this machine. It is a great addition to any home office.
 
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I bought this machine because I liked the 8640 that I had used in the office and I wanted to add another multifunction machine with duplex capability and add color too. As with all of the printers and multifunction machines, this really needs a larger paper capacity if they are going to be called an office machine. I just bought the added paper tray at the same time to accomplish this but it does add significantly to the price. You cannot get a decent capacity paper tray unless you go to the real high dollar machines. That all said, I really like the color output. It beats one of my high dollar machines hands down in that department. Oh, and to jab at Buy.com, they really need to make it clear whether these machines come with toner or not. I called and asked a rep and they said no so I ordered some toner form another source(cheaper), but was pleasantly surprised to find toner in the box with the printer.
 
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Printed thousands of perfect copies, thusfar...B9840 is the best printer for the money for sure and maybe compared to almost all others even costing thousands more(I have had so many over the years that I have lost count!). Compares at 98% level to a huge leased Minolta Multi-Function Color Laser Printer (servicing 13 workstations via 2 servers) I have had it for three years at my primary business office and is worth ~$15K if purchased. 9840 was at Fantastic price ($632/inc. shipping one week only Sale!)from Buy.com and it arrived the next day! Also purchased Tray 2 Option necessary to switch between Letter and Legal in quantity...A Quality item that works fantastic. 9840 is big and heavy; but, NOT compared to same functioning higher priced printers that it can so easily replace. I love hearing it turn on...good powerful; but, relatively quiet sound. It Copies, Scans (Beautifully.) and Prints ALL quite rapidly and like the Champ that it is... It is also a joy to setup and use wirelessly here at my 4 computer home office. Few things do I say this about; but...Buy one, even for $800...It is a steal! RB
 
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It is much larger than previous models. The fax speed is good, but the printing speed seems to be slower than the 8440.
 
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Like others, I'd been a loyal HP customer for years (I'm still using a 6MP on my own desk), but their quality seems to have gone downhill, and their multifunction software for Mac was pure, unusable trash on my LJ3330. This machine set up with almost silly ease, other than the fact that yes, it is big and heavy. Both wireless and wired interfaces work beautifully. All the functions work like a champ. My only gripes: The time to first output is way slower than stately when it hasn't been used for a while (i.e., first in the morning, or if the afternoon's been dead slow). Once warmed up, though, the speed's good. It's also a touch loud, though not really to the level of caged ferrets referred to in a CNET review. I was also amazed by the speed of the free delivery, explained by a warehouse 250 miles away, rather than spending $100 to get it put on a truck from halfway across the country.
 
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This Multifunction machine from Brother International is an excellent buy for the price of $629 I paid on Buy.com. Was very easy to setup (i used Wireless Networking) and produced crisp color prints. Buy.com shipped it free and it reached my place in just two days after placing the order
 
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I have a 8840 that I think is one of the best MF machines I've owned. So moving up to the Color version was a no brainer. I had an intern setup the machine right out of the box. The only reason I gave it a overall 4 is the area to retrive the printed pages is kinda small. Buy.com is the greatest to deal with as far as shipping and price.
 
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It is very heavy and does require 2 people set up. Physical and software setup were very easy. Setup automatically creates the printer and recognizes and attaches to the network without any user input needed. Everything worked right the first time. Initial warmup takes about 15 seconds when starting a print or scan or fax job. Color quality is excellent (I print documents, some with photos, but haven't tried super high resolutions). The scanning function stopped working after a couple of weeks on one of my computers, although printing continued. Solution: uninstall and reinstall the Brother software. It then worked. The machine has been a pleasure to use, and the interface is logical, and very similar to other Brother machines.
 
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I have a home network with Macintosh and some PC's and am not using the wireless connection of the MFC. Too much of the control Panel & MFC is devoted to fax, and use of fax is decreasing each year. 25 keys are used exclusively for fax while 11 for all other functions. The set up has a rather steep learning curve. If one ignores the manuals in HTML present on the Mac and PC disks included and downloads the new PDF manuals which can be obtained on Brothers web site, it will help alot with the setup. Note one can not use duplex on Legal size sheets. The printing is very good especially text. The MFC functions well otherwise. If Fax is the most important function for you, this is the machine you should choose.
 
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The machine does what I want it to do however the color print quality could be improved. I've seen better from other manufacturers. The scanning software was not easy to install and I needed telephone assistance from Brother in order to diagnose the problem and then download and install a patch that would make it work. It works like a charm now and I'm quite happy with the machine. I've only had it for a few months now but if it continues to do what it does now I'd upgrade my "value" rating to 4 1/2.
 
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I purchased the printer about 5 months ago, and I love it. Great features in a small package. It's perfect for SOHO. I would have given it four stars, but the printer wasn't printing consistent colors across the page. Especially, printing large graphs and slides with a colored background. I called brother support a total of six times, which is bad enough, but on top of it, each time you call, the call is taken by a call center in India and then transferred to a US call center in the mid-west (therefore, I ended up explaining the issue to each call center each time I called.) The biggest issue was that even with a 'supervisor' getting involved, I haven't received a call back. I guess the people who take the calls in India have to forward the call to the US, and the US call center has to forward complex issues to another department via email?! I'm very disappointed. This is a great all-in-one machine, and the wireless is a huge plus for our office. We have another Brother laser printer (B&W) and bought this unit because we found the other one so great. Bottom line: Buyer beware. You may have the time to deal with tech support and follow-up to get a resolution, which can make a reasonably priced unit very expensive.
 
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First of all, my experience with Buy.com was outstanding. I ordered this printer from them with free shipping! Excellent price and free shipping on a package weighing over 100 pounds! Wow! They said it would be 3 to 5 days once shipped...it came the next day (so be prepared for an early arrival, but may depend on which warehouse it's shipped from). I will be a return customer based on this alone. I love the printer. I read some reviews saying it's noisy; I didn't find it noisy at all, in fact much quieter than expected. Excellent print quality with no streaking, and fast. Easy setup (comes well packed, double boxed and taped which is what will take the longest part of your setup...the unpacking). The wireless function works great; it had no problem linking it to my router. It is big but it replaces several machines, and it's a color laser for cryin-out-loud. The only downside is that it does wrinkle envelopes like reported by others (one of the reviewers said he made some adjustment for the envelope thickness with success, but I haven't spent the time yet to figure it out). Great machine, so far.
 
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I've had the Brother MFC-9840CDW for about 2 weeks. It is very heavy, about 80 lbs and in a very large box. It is delivered by truck and you have to set up a delivery date and be home all day to receive it. In my case the driver was great and helped me carry it to my second floor home office. It is very well packed and has good instructions on the box and inside on how to open and set up. The only problem is lifting it and putting it where you want it. The instructions say you need two people and after doing it by myself I fully agree. Luckily I didn't pull anything. The unit does everything it claims and very well. The software loaded easily on my very old PC 700 Mhz Pentium w/386 mb RAM running Windows XP Pro. It is super fast on both B & W and color printing due to a new design which prints all the colors at the same time. There is no difference in speed for B & W or color. The duplex scanner works flawlessly as does the duplex printing. I haven't tried the fax function yet so I can't comment on that. I would highly recommend it for anyone in a home office. It does it all.
 
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I'm optimistic, but so far has been a lot time trying to get it to work with my setup. WinXpSp2, Lynksys Adapter for the PC, Netgear Access Point with a Comcast VOIP cable modem. Very easy to setup connection from printer to access point - good connection. I couldn't print though. My PC couldn't ping the IP address of the printer, which was verification that the offline printer status was correct. I also have a Mac laptop that couldn't print to the wireless printer - both after installing the latest drivers off the Brother Solutions website. A full half day of restarts on both systems with a good call to the support at Brother (which I had to leave in the middle of trouble shooting - I have a home office, client arrived, 30 minutes into troubleshooting). I was very frustrated and connected the printer to the Netgear access point via an ethernet cable and voila! Both mac and pc are able to see the printer and print to it. So, I'm happy both my comps can print. I still have a steep learning curve on getting the scanning / faxing from the computers to work, but hopeful. It's not perfect, so far, but it is nice to have incremental success. The main problem for me is I paid for a wireless solution and haven't gotten it. The Netgear discussion forums mention intermittent success between Brother and Netgear products.
 
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I'm was a loyal Hp fan but after researching this All In One brother I was impressed by it's positive reviews by professionals. So I gave in and bought it for my home office and I never looked back. I love the network functions to where you can scan anything from the printer and send it to your computer. Other plus is the duplex printing works flawlessly along with fast printing and great quality. Also the color prints the same speed as black! You won't get that with Hp unless you spend over $1,000.
 
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Recently I bought this wireless high end laser printer, and an extra high yield black toner cartridge. I chose the FREE shipping method, which can take up to 10 days. The box arrived in 3 days! I opened and set up the printer, using my wireless 802.11g network. The setup was intuitive and quick. I tested the color print mode by making a color copy of a full bleed color page I had. The copy was perfect color, and it printed out to almost 1/8 inch from the edge all the way around. I was impressed! <p> Next I set up the printer using the driver CD that came with the printer, and was printing from my MacBook Pro within minutes. Wirelessly! Using no cables at all. The printer is connected to my wireless network wirelessly, and through that wireless connection to my computer wirelessly. Pretty neat! <p> I advertise lots of printed color items, mostly single sheets, and groups of single sheets, and each of these must be scanned, collated, manipulated, and uploaded to a website. Before, the scan process was tedious and time consuming. I tested the scan mode and it scans direct to my desktop wirelessly. So by the time I had loaded the sheet to be scaned and hit start, and walked back to my computer, there it was receiving on my desktop! Now that is cool! I have not used the duplex mode yet, but plan to use it for scanning two sided multiple documents, and if my manual tests are any indication, then I know this wireless printer/scanner/copier will be a great time saver for my small home operated business. <p> I highly recommend this printer, over other laser printers I have previously used (Xerox Phaser 8200, 8400 and 8500) which also have duplex but no scan mode and alas. . .no wireless connection. <p> The "Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multi-Function Center with Wireless Networking" sold here from Buy.com is great. I would give it a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, and I give Buy.com a 10 on price and service. Now I have to get busy doing some scanning and printing!
 
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Smartest purchase I have ever made!! Easy to use. Easy to set up. Customer support that actually calls you back. I am operating a "few" person home based construction company. This product supports our paperless filing goals by scanning 2 SIDED. The auto document feeder (ADF) is great. It also pulls the scanning documents through straight. Try that on Brand X!!! Printing and Faxing are all very good. Toner is in the reasonable cost range, not cheap, but pretty much as expected. Unpackaging is a two person job. Once setup and positioned, this bad-boy Rocks!!
 
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had oki brand color laser printer, it was three times the printer, much better looking prints, nice color etc. this brother's prints are anemic looking even after adjusting the color. I guess that is the difference between an all in one and a single use machine (or brands). never the less the brother works great and was easy to set up and was a terrific value. Buy. com was a good purchase experience, everything went as expected.
 
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I bought this unit after 2 years of trouble-shooting wireless connection issues with an HP Officejet 7410 that failed after TWO factory replacements with 'remanufactured' units. Turned this on and it ran perfectly from the get-go on all PC's- XP, Vista and an IMac. Great price, output is good, applications all run perfectly. Ecstatic so far!
 
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After owning an HP color laser printer that didn't even have 50,000 pages printed and the multiple service calls--I gave the order--NO MORE HP PRINTERS! Our Sharp b&w laser multi-functions were working fine but we wanted to try a color laser multi-function to save space in our offices. We've ordered many things from Buy.com and were always shocked how fast we receive these large items. Installation on our wired network was even easier than the Sharp devices. Copier and printer warm-up time is excessive but is fine once warmed up. Everyone loves the scanning to USB jump drives. The fax transmission is fast. Print quality is outstanding. After a month of use, were very pleased. For all that this Brother MFC-9840CDW does and at this price point, I don't understand why it has not won more awards.
 
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This multifunction machine does everything I need it to do and then some. I particularly appreciate auto scanning of two-sided originals and standard duplex printing to reduce the volume of paper I buy and material that I must store. This printer replaces an auto-duplexing Brother B&W printer along with a color printer of another brand that required an expensive accessory for duplex printing. The consumable cost is quite reasonable when compared with other lasers and far-and-away less expensive than ink-jet alternatives. Scanning to a USB-attached computer is quick and accurate. Likewise, faxes are sent quickly via the internal modem. In addition to the one USB-attached computer, this printer is accessed through my lan by three other computers; two of them wirelessly. Two of the computers are running XP and two of them are running Vista. I downloaded and installed the latest drivers directly from the Brother website before installing the unit. All operate as designed. I have not attempted to use the internal wireless connection. Color copies are nearly indistinguishable from the originals. The warm-up time before appearance of the first printed page seems a bit excessive, but once warm the printer is quick and the quality is quite good. Though I have not needed tech support for this unit, a previous experience with my other multifunction machine was very favorable. The technician was knowledgeable, easy to understand, and helped resolve my issue quickly. This unit is an outstanding value. It performs as expected, saves paper via duplex options, has low consumable costs, and seems to be well-built. I look forward to several years of reliable operation.
 
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I use a MFC 9420cn at work and that is actually what I was shopping for when I can across this printer. I was intrigued with the built in wire-less, along with the duplex printing. By purchasing it at Buy.com I was able to spend about the same as the lower model I was looking for. When it arrived at my house, the setup was so simple a ten year old could have done it. I have only had it about two weeks but everything I've done with it has been great. It has beautiful print quality, combined with the ease of setup, makes this my best purchase in years!!
 
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Great product, especially for the price. Print quality awesome. A little bigger than I thought, and fairly heavy, but still worth it, if you are looking for a good multi-purpose laser color printer.
 
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I just upgraded to this machine from an HP L7780. It does a far better job in every aspect. First the price is great for a color laser machine that duplexes (2 sided copies). Secondly the duplex digitizer is set up very well. The scanner is set up on the left side of the machine, so it does not have to move when using the auto doc feeder. This speeds up scan time tremendously. It works with thin sheets of paper to thick folded pieces without any problems. Set up is a breeze and control from the machine for scanning to your computer is very simple. I own a small business and I will say if you do not run enough volume to warrant the need for a Bizhub, then this is your best alternative. At $650.00 this machine is well worth the price.
 
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A multifunction is always a compromise. This one (so far) is good to excellent at most tasks. It's one weakness is in color printing. This was expected, and no surprise. It is not up to the standards of a good stand alone printer using good paper. That said, it's not terrible, just not not great. I am still tweaking the settings which have improved everything but color accuracy. On the flip side, it's just as good on plain 20LB paper as it is with the expensive "color laser" paper. You have to use the fancy stuff with HP to get best results. The push scanning to PDF creates large files, but using Acrobat to pull the scans creates nice small files of equal quality. Over all my expectations have been met. I don't think you can equal the functionality of this machine for twice Buy.com's price. The only question is reliability as this is a new design.
 
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ordered 6am got it next day! some reviews werent happy with phone support. not me, called about 2 issues (my problems, not the equipment) both handled quickly. very pleasently surprised. does everthing its supposed to, and well.
 
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i was initially looking to purchase an hp multi function inkjet but found nothing but bad user reviews. came across the brother laser multi-function and found mostly positive reviews. placed the order with buy.com, ordered one each of the high yield toner cartridges as well. everything arrived piece meal within about a week of my order. the printer box is big (basically 3' square). the printer is about 80 lbs.and it was double boxed. there was a lot of packing tape on the printer - this i liked because brother took care to make sure nothing could come loose in transit. every tray and cover was taped. you definitely need help to get the inside box out of the box and to place the printer where you want it. installing the toner cartridges was a snap. configuring the printer via the display was fairly straight forward. the web interface is nice. connecting the printer to our network was simple - connect the network cable to the printer and the hub - done. we use dhcp for most items on our network and static ip's for specific devices. i thought that this might be an issue but i proceeded. i thought the software would be a problem. we have a very old pc running xp that is of the win98 vintage. it took this system noticeably longer to load the software. we had no problems once this was done. the software found the printer and we where done. loaded the software into a much newer system, sony vaio w- xp. same results - easy, smooth installation. i have never had such a smooth hardware/software computer oriented installation. it took me about 2 - 2.5 hrs from start to finish (software on both systems). in all fairness, i keep all my packaging just in case, every bag and twist tie. could probably be done in an hour if you do not hold on to your packaging. highly recommend this printer. printed some pics - look great.
 
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After months of struggling with HP and my AIO7410, I finally gave up with HP. They still can't get any of their products with scanners in them to work properly on Vista. So now I'm a Brother advocate. Enough was enough. This printer installed effortlessly. Being a techy with Networking, I was actually able to get it set up in no time at all without reading anything. Not bragging here. Just making a point. It was a piece of cake! Even the packaging it was in... It recommends 2 people, but I managed to remove it myself. And I have to say, the packaging was well thought out like a science. With step by step instructions on the inside of the lid, it tells you exactly how to remove it without going nuts. It's quality and design is great! Best Investment I've made!
 
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I try to read the reviews before making a major purchase, so glad to contribute. Setting the stage first, I have been a faithful HP user for many years, but finally got so frustrated in dealing with my HP d-series 145 all-in-one officejet that I finally decided to step up to a color laser. The main frustration with the HP was in keeping it printing for long documents. After about 50 pages or so, the error message came on to change a printhead. I learned to clean the heads with alcohol and start again, but the job was in the middle of the run. Restarting resulted in hand shake problems on the USB connection, requiring rebooting the printer or disconnecting and connecting the USB cable. Then I started seeing a scanner error message -- even when not using the scanner. When I looked at HP and other websites, I was not impressed; it appears many are disappointed in HP's software support -- particularly for new products and compatibility with Vista. [I use winXP.] My printing volume per month is very modest, but I want it to work when I need it without hassle and significant time and effort. I was concerned about moving to Brother, but the reviews gave Brother's laser MFC far better ratings than the HP. I have finished installing the Brother MFC-9840CDW and am very happy with it so far. Installation was fairly straight forward and rather easy -- considering the overall complexity and functionality of the unit. It is big and heavy; I bought a separate table on wheels which turns out to be very nice. Although the directions say to use two people, I only ask my wife to help at one stage: after my lifting the unit off the "base" packaging, she removed the packaging and wheeled in the small table. Amazingly, the table was easy to move on the thick carpet to the correct location next to my desk. The installation went even more smoothly. The operation of setting up on the ethernet network from the router was really easy and near automatic. I was concerned about the Norton firewall since the Brother instructions refers one to the firewall software instructions (which I didn't read). I first turned off the firewall to check for operation; then I turned it back on. Norton ask me if I wanted to block it or let it through. Boy, was that simple. Detecting the net address was automatic. I was glad to see the Scansoft software although I was already a big user of Omnipage. I did have a minor glitch with the paperport installation trying to use the none microsoft interface at first; after switching, everything seemed to work fine. I have not gone back to evaluate and don't know the advantage or disadvantage of either. I simply am amazed how well it works even setting up the fax in conjunction with the telephone answering machine on the same number. Really like the unit sensing the fax before waiting on the four rings. Even the delay before printing is not particularly an issue. Perhaps, one should compare the delay in printing a 2-3 page document, rather than simply before printing. I have no experience with replacing toner or other maintenance issues. Bottom line: wish I had taken the step earlier, but then, duplex printing has not been available that long in the Brother MFC. Relative to cost, I did take advantage of a reduced price, a $50 rebate, and free shipping from Buy.com. The unit cost me about $250 more (or so) than for a new HP inkjet. Considering my time element, I consider it to be well worthwhile. For a small office with multiple users, I cannot imagine a better multifunction unit. My wife and I are the only users in my home office. I should add that when the HP worked, it was fine and was quite functional. .... and I am sure its photoprinting is superior. I had already purchased an Epson for printing photos and portability for the motorhome. I have always like HP as a company and hope they straighten out their problems ... on their time, not mine.
 
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