Reviewed by: mnemonicj on 15-May-09 Rating: 
Strengths:Auto Document Feeder, Ethernet, Scan to FTP, Fast and Good Quality Laser Printing
Weaknesses:Limited settings, PC software, no double sided scanning using ADF, not the best picture scanning
Summary:I have what I consider a small office at home. I don\'t need color printing, but I need to be able to handle scanning and printing documents and I need something that can do it quickly and reliably. This Brother multi-function printer does what I need it to do.
First, the MFC can be connected over Ethernet to perform almost any function. I use the scanning feature called Scan to FTP that allows you to set up the scanner to convert scanned documents into a PDF file and send them to an FTP server on your network. When I need to scan a document into the scanner, I put the paper on the scanner, press a few buttons, and the document is available to me anywhere on the network. One big complaint about Scan to FTP, the flatbed scanner defaults to A4 sized paper and the sheet fed defaults to Letter sized paper. I called Brother to try and get this fixed so you could select the size of paper, but no promises where made and they recommended that I install the software on my PC to be able to change the scan size.
The printer is nothing extraordinary, unless you are used to an inkjet printer, then it seems great. The quality is sharp, the printer is reasonably fast, and it is great for printing B&W or greyscale documents. If you need color, look at an inkjet or a more expensive MFC.
The PC software (not including the drivers) is slow and clumsy. I can\'t stand using it and after a couple weeks on my computer, I uninstalled it. Luckily, I can do almost everything I need without the software because I am networked to it.
There is no double sided scanning using the ADF, but I have a simple PDF modification program that lets me organize the pages and files to my liking and I didn\'t have to pay way too much for Adobe Acrobat.
Altogether, great machine, but I will need a separate picture scanner and color printer to do stuff with pictures. If you are looking for something to manage piles of documents that you want on your computer, this is the machine.
First, the MFC can be connected over Ethernet to perform almost any function. I use the scanning feature called Scan to FTP that allows you to set up the scanner to convert scanned documents into a PDF file and send them to an FTP server on your network. When I need to scan a document into the scanner, I put the paper on the scanner, press a few buttons, and the document is available to me anywhere on the network. One big complaint about Scan to FTP, the flatbed scanner defaults to A4 sized paper and the sheet fed defaults to Letter sized paper. I called Brother to try and get this fixed so you could select the size of paper, but no promises where made and they recommended that I install the software on my PC to be able to change the scan size.
The printer is nothing extraordinary, unless you are used to an inkjet printer, then it seems great. The quality is sharp, the printer is reasonably fast, and it is great for printing B&W or greyscale documents. If you need color, look at an inkjet or a more expensive MFC.
The PC software (not including the drivers) is slow and clumsy. I can\'t stand using it and after a couple weeks on my computer, I uninstalled it. Luckily, I can do almost everything I need without the software because I am networked to it.
There is no double sided scanning using the ADF, but I have a simple PDF modification program that lets me organize the pages and files to my liking and I didn\'t have to pay way too much for Adobe Acrobat.
Altogether, great machine, but I will need a separate picture scanner and color printer to do stuff with pictures. If you are looking for something to manage piles of documents that you want on your computer, this is the machine.