OT Home Office printer/fax

[Birddog]

I may be asking for too much here, but I'm curious if there is a good Fax/Printer,Copier out there.
Here's my list of features needed.
Recieve fax (phone line)
Send Fax
Copy (black and white is fine)
Print (from computer)
Laser or Ink Jet (no thermal)
$200 to $300
and the clinker........
Be able to use with a single phone line that recognizes a fax (with or without an answering machine) My computer link is DSL

I have a ratio of receiving to sending of about 20 to 1 if that matters. The reason for this search is because my Printer is goofing off and I'm sick and tired of the thermal imaging of my fax, which is also running a blank page for every printed page and running out my thermal toner prematurely.
TIA
Birddog

[gt6267a]

i have a brother mfc-4220 and like it. any of the brother multifunction deals should handle your request just fine. one nice feature of the brother products ... built in networking. instead of hooking the printer up to your computer, hook it up to your home network. for laptop users, that is one less cable to plug-in and multiple computers are able to print / scan over the network. and yes i said scan over the network, it works.

one thing to point out, the 4220 is not a high volume device. when giving recomendations, i think it is important to list the product one is using for comparison purposes. that said, brother's line of products is pretty deep and there are a number of devices with a greater capacity.

if i were to take a do-over on my purchase, i might pick the laser printer. to me, color at home is over-rated. not that the color is bad, but for my purposes, it is not needed. especially considering the laser lasts longer, prints nicer, and is faster. funny how the concept of speed is everywhere.

[davep]

I have a two Brother MFC machines, a small one at home and a bigger one at the office. I have been very happy with them and they meet all your requirements. They have a ring detection option, so you can get a ring master number (that's what Bell South calls it, a second number on the same line with a different pattern) from your phone company and the MFC will automatically detect the second ring pattern and the fax will answer. This is MUCH better than the machines that wait to detect a fax tone, because some (many?) fax machines wait to detect a fax tone on the receiving end before they start sending.

I believe they come in both ink jet and laser models. I have lasers because it is more cost effective and the one time I did have an ink jet I used the color so rarely the ink would be dried up whenever I wanted to use it.

[sbornia]

I have an HP model (5500?) from a few years ago that does pretty much everything on your list. I think it can differentiate phone calls and faxes, but have not tried that set-up.

While the machine has worked fine and I've probably gotten my money's worth out of it, I would not buy another HP. Too many small quirks, and the scanning capability just sucks a** completely. If I were going to replace it at some point, I'd try a Canon multi-function instead, as I've been really pleased with my photo printer.

[Bill D]

+1 for the Brother MFC products. I have an MFC 8440 in my home office, and I got it pretty darn cheap at Costco. I'm not a high-volume user, but I've had zero problems with it in the 2 or 2.5 years I've had it.

[Ray]

Everyone makes at least one of what you're looking for. I have an HP, but there are plenty of others. For $100-$150 you should be able to get something that scans, prints (color and b&w), faxes (color and b&w) and copies (color and b&w). You might need an add-on product to handle separating the faxes from the phone calls - I had to buy some sort of box (maybe another $30-40?) and then I had to program it, but they walked me through it and it was very easy. It's worked flawlessly since. I run a small consulting business at home and this has been fine for my day to day needs. For big print jobs, I go down to the local Staples, but everything else I handle at home.

-Ray

[jimp1234]

The one I've been ordering for our remote users is the HP L7680 All in one. It's got a nice feature set with 34 ppm for color, duplex printing, legal size flat bed scanning, etc. It's might be more than you're looking to spend but I've seen it in the $350 range.


-Jim

[Too Tall]

I just got one of the less expensive Lexmark fax/scanners and cheese these things have come a long way. It's real real nice for very short $$s.

[Serotta PETE]

HP, Brother, Lexmark....Look and see what is on sale. Also check such placed as PCCONNECTION.COM and CDW. PC Magaizine and others do comparisons.

As a default, you can not go wrong with HP.