Brother MFC-9840CDW Color Laser Multi-Function Center with Wireless Networking - Buy.com Price Reflects a $100 Discount!

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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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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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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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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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 understa