Just thought I would mention I got my MFC-5840CN today and am very happy with it.. for $50 after rebate it does all I need for a home office..got the printer and scanner portions working pretty easily (I use Linux so not as easy as that sounds but Brother has good linux support for these models..I image alot of small business's still use these) and the copies it make are fine..beats the heck out of paying $0.15 a copy somewhere else when copying all my mail in rebate forms and upc's....installed a linux program called kopyshop that lets me do a quick scan and print to my laser printer or pdf instead of to the inkjet.....I'll stick to only printing when I need color now that I can "photocopy" to the laser since the toner cart is alot cheaper for b/w.

ajny said:Just wanted to add another suggestion here- Brother printers (including these (I think)) has some kind of optical ink sensors which keep checking the level of ink in the ink tank of the cart. All 4 ink carts need to have ink for the printer to print (so, even if u want to just print black, u still need to have non-empty color carts). When the ink goes low, the printer says it is out of ink and refuses to print. Now, trouble is this happens even when there is about 15% or more ink left in the tank. To work out this problem some people apply black electrical tape to the part of the cart which comes in contact with the optical ink sensor. I think there are pictures somewhere on the web which show exactly where to apply the tape, use google to find out.Brother, like other printer manufacturers are more about selling ink than they are about selling printers because ink is 95% profit. THE most important thing to consider when buying a printer is how much ink it will use. You will often find printers that are, oh... 30 bucks, that guzzle the stuff. These seem like a cheap buy but, oh Brother, you will pay in the long run! Of course, there are refill kits or remanufactered ink cartridges, but these rarely give as good results as new ones.

My2c

bighitter said:

On a related subject, can anybody recommend a reliable source for cheap ink? My sister bought a Canon and needs to buy cartridges.

I've had better luck here than others (monster, megatoners). YMMV.

By the way, I've had the Brother 110C Multifunction unit for over a year and it's been great (paid negative $11 for it! ). The ink is cheap (through above store) and it has been as good as any other printer I've owned. It's slow, but it's effective.

I have a MFC-210C (uses same ink) and it is one of the best printers I have owned in the under $100 (think I paid around 30 for mine 2 years ago). Ink is dirt cheap...I order from abcink.com (Meritline). Works with Vista, doesn't take up a lot of room, and even in the "Fast Print" mode, everything is clear.