Brother MFC-3820CN Color Inkjet Multifunction Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)For the money I could not find another MF device that even came close to this unit.
Printing, Fax, Scanning, and copying are all as expected with output quality on par with other units in the $150-$400 range. However, it is its advanced functions that really make it shine.
First, the MFC has a built in 10/100baseT server. Not just a print server but a server that will support both local network and internet based printing, faxing, and even FTP access to memory cards. Want to share your digital photos; just put your CF, SD, etc. card in the printer and have your friends FTP in and copy the files. Or, use a memory card to store other files that you want to make accessable via FTP.
You can also do a lot of other interesting things like auto-forward faxes, store and forward on demand, broadcast, and so on. In all cases a Fax can be sent via normal phone line or via email depending on the 'address' you enter.
One very cool feature if you have broadband is that by opening port 515 on your home router/firewall you can print to the Brother MFC from anyplace you have internet access. Print from a hotel, airport, friends house, work (as long as port 515 is not blocked), etc. Very cool.
Also, the 20 sheet ADF is great for making copies or faxing larger documents while the flat bed scanner allows copy/fax of bound books, etc.
One the down side:
- The unit is not small; allow enough space for it
- The paper tray only holds ~100 sheets; a common issue with consumer printers
- Memory is limited at 16MB; don't expect to store tons of complex documents
- Color faxing ONLY works if you print the Fax when it arrives; you can't store a color fax and print it later or forward it to another Fax
- You have to install all 4 ink carts. for the printer to work and if one cart. is out of ink the printer stops printing; e.g. if your Yellow is out and you want to print a B&W fax you are out of luck
- Unlike HP units, the Bother has fixed print heads so if you have a failure you can't just replace the cart.; your have to replace the printer
- You can't change the IP Ports that the printer uses for its various network functions; e.g. FTP is fixed at 21, printing is fixed at 515. It would have been nice for security reasons to be able to change these to a user-defined value.
All in all this is a great all-in-one unit that has some great features that no other unit it its class has. For the price you can't go wrong!

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The Brother MFC-3820CN is an all-in-one color printer, color copier, color fax machine, and color scanner, perfect for the home office or small business where space is at a premium. With a maximum 4,800 x 1,200 optimized print resolution, Micro Piezo ink jet technology, and 5-picoliter ink droplet size, prints are bright, vivid, and true-to-life. Print speeds are as fast as 14 ppm for black and 12 ppm for color. The MFC-3820CN has a standard input capacity of 100 sheets, a 50-sheet output capacity, and also comes with a 20-page automatic document feeder.
The flatbed scanner provides up to 600 x 2,400 dpi maximum resolution and 36-bit color (256 levels of gray), with four one-touch buttons (scan to image, e-mail, OCR, file, and media card--Windows only) to help automate frequent tasks. The included software bundle helps you achieve the best scans and includes an OCR (optical character recognition) tool for scanning documents directly to text files. Copy speeds are as fast as 12 cpm for black and 10 cpm for color, while up to 99 copies can be made at once, freeing up your time for other tasks. Copies can be reduced or enlarged from 25% to 400% in 1% increments.
The fax machine has a 3-second per page transmission speed and is capable of color faxing. It utilizes MH, MR, MMR, and JPEG (for color fax) fax coding methods. A fax memory of up to 480 pages ensures that you don't miss important faxes when you run out of paper, while the 100-entry speed dial, fax forwarding, and paging features provide added convenience. The remote retrieval function allows you to access your fax machine from outside the office, while a 150-location fax broadcasting feature sends multiple faxes from a single original.
The MFC-3820CN has both USB 2.0 and Ethernet ports and also directly accepts Memory Stick, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Secure Digital memory cards for convenient photo printing. You can access the media cards over a network. The MFC-3829CN has a footprint of 17.6 by 17.8 inches and weighs 23.1 pounds. Compatible with both Mac and PC, it also comes backed by a one-year limited warranty.
What's in the BoxMFC-3820CN, automatic document feeder, user documentation, power cord

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