Brother MFC-7420 Flatbed Laser Multi-Function Center

I wanted a sturdy machine that uses ink affordably, feeds paper accurately and reliably, and not too slow. I didn't need color. This machine fit the bill.

I haven't owned it long, so I don't know about reliability. Paper handling is excellent. Printing is fast and looks very good -- dark and precise. Ink costs will be much lower than an inkjet. It seems carefully designed and more solidly made than most inkjets. It's Macintosh-friendly (I guess Brother makes a point of being friendly to Macintosh and Linux.) Scanning, faxing, printing all work seamlessly with OS X.

It's got a flatbed scanner for irregular originals, and a sheet feeder for scanning, faxing or copying multiple pages. The sheet feeder seems to work very well. This is really an incredible deal, considering the low price. This is a perfect machine for the user who has office work in mind, more than printing photos and other "home user" needs.

Follow-up, six months later: This machine has worked better than I could have hoped. Paper feed is very reliable, print quality is excellent, the fax function is quite reliable, and the cost of ink per page is remarkably cheap. I haven't experience a single problem with it.

i won't duplicate what others have said in previous reviews.

we have owned this printer for about 6 months and overall very happy with it.

it is used with both Windoze XP and Mac OSX Tiger, both with printer direct to my machine, and D-Link wireless print server. have had no software issues.

all functions have worked fine in all cases. no real problems with the machine that couldn't be figured out rather quickly.

wish the cooling fan was a bit quieter, but that's not a show stopper.

the only thing that keeps me from giving 5 stars is the toner. the cartridges don't seem to last very long, and refilling with various different kits doesn't work. the print is grey and smudged. gotta buy originals to get the best print.

but we are very happy with it, has saved a ton of desktop space compared to the individual items it replaced.

I have had the MFC-7420 now for 6 months. I have bee nothing but pleased with the performance of this machine. I have used the copy function frequently and the fax function about 6 times. I like that the fax machine portion of it can recognize and accept an incoming fax or just act normal if it is a regular phone call. It prints very quickly and printouts are crisp and clear.

I HAVE OWNED EVERY TYPE OF ALL-IN-ONES OR MFCS OUT THERE AND BROTHER IS THE BEST. ALL PRINTERS ARE GOING TO HAVE PAPER JAMS OR SMALL HICK-UPS HERE AND THERE, NEVER HAD A PRINTER THAT HASN'T. BROTHER IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE AND DOES THE BEST FOR MY SMALL OFFICE. I WILL NEVER USE HP OR CANON AGAIN! BROTHER IS THE BEST AND SO IS THE PRICE OF TONER!!

The little machine does all that could reasonably be asked of it. My only complaint is similar to that of another owner who noted that the toner doesn't seem to last long.

Paper Port 9 for scanner software is great. Its OCR function is as good as any I've worked with, even converting faxes faxed twice with pretty good results. I read some negative reviews of Paper Port 10 so if you do get a machine and have the option of Paper Port 9 or 10, you might want to stick with the 9.

This was my first purchase of a laser printer. I was concerned about a multi-function product but the Brother MFC-7420 is very easy to use, switches modes with a press of a button and performs great. I would recommend this product.

We have a small company but still print/copy/fax alot of paperwork. Before, we just had a regular copy machine where you had to physically put one paper in to get copied. This 5-in-1 multifuntion machine has taken a load off. When we had our old copy machine and I had 20-30 papers to copy, it took a LONG time. Now, not only can I leave & do other things while the papers are being copied, but it makes copies a whole lot faster. The only thing we noticed that was a bit disappointing was, it runs out of toner FAST. The cartridges aren't too expensive when compared with others, but if you print/copy alot it could get pricey. So I've been buying toner refills which are a lot cheaper.

My only purpose in buying the mfc7420 was to replace our antiquated copier. Some time I may hook it up as a printer and/or fax but haven't yet. Key feature I wanted was to easily copy multi-page documents, which it handles just fine.

Fast shipping from amazon. The printer is easy to setup but a little
nosiy when printing. Also I saw the same printer in Office Depot on sale for $30 less a week after I bought the printer. Shop around for a sale.

In a nutshell: If you own a Mac, do NOT buy this machine. I struggled with Brother's tech support system several times to make it work with my iBook running OS 10.4, and still have not been able to scan a thing. I've also begun having problems sending faxes, as the machine eats the documents. Last time I had to send an important document, I went to an Office Depot and paid to send it for fear of it being eaten by this machine. Buyer beware--especially Mac users.

In a nutshell: If you own a Mac, do NOT buy this machine. I struggled with Brother's tech support system several times to make it work with my iBook running OS 10.4, and still have not been able to scan a thing. I've also begun having problems sending faxes, as the machine eats the documents. Last time I had to send an important document, I went to an Office Depot and paid to send it for fear of it being eaten by this machine. Buyer beware--especially Mac users.

My only purpose in buying the mfc7420 was to replace our antiquated copier. Some time I may hook it up as a printer and/or fax but haven't yet. Key feature I wanted was to easily copy multi-page documents, which it handles just fine.

Fast shipping from amazon. The printer is easy to setup but a little
nosiy when printing. Also I saw the same printer in Office Depot on sale for $30 less a week after I bought the printer. Shop around for a sale.

This was my first purchase of a laser printer. I was concerned about a multi-function product but the Brother MFC-7420 is very easy to use, switches modes with a press of a button and performs great. I would recommend this product.

We have a small company but still print/copy/fax alot of paperwork. Before, we just had a regular copy machine where you had to physically put one paper in to get copied. This 5-in-1 multifuntion machine has taken a load off. When we had our old copy machine and I had 20-30 papers to copy, it took a LONG time. Now, not only can I leave & do other things while the papers are being copied, but it makes copies a whole lot faster. The only thing we noticed that was a bit disappointing was, it runs out of toner FAST. The cartridges aren't too expensive when compared with others, but if you print/copy alot it could get pricey. So I've been buying toner refills which are a lot cheaper.

The little machine does all that could reasonably be asked of it. My only complaint is similar to that of another owner who noted that the toner doesn't seem to last long.

Paper Port 9 for scanner software is great. Its OCR function is as good as any I've worked with, even converting faxes faxed twice with pretty good results. I read some negative reviews of Paper Port 10 so if you do get a machine and have the option of Paper Port 9 or 10, you might want to stick with the 9.

I HAVE OWNED EVERY TYPE OF ALL-IN-ONES OR MFCS OUT THERE AND BROTHER IS THE BEST. ALL PRINTERS ARE GOING TO HAVE PAPER JAMS OR SMALL HICK-UPS HERE AND THERE, NEVER HAD A PRINTER THAT HASN'T. BROTHER IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE AND DOES THE BEST FOR MY SMALL OFFICE. I WILL NEVER USE HP OR CANON AGAIN! BROTHER IS THE BEST AND SO IS THE PRICE OF TONER!!

I have had the MFC-7420 now for 6 months. I have bee nothing but pleased with the performance of this machine. I have used the copy function frequently and the fax function about 6 times. I like that the fax machine portion of it can recognize and accept an incoming fax or just act normal if it is a regular phone call. It prints very quickly and printouts are crisp and clear.

i won't duplicate what others have said in previous reviews.

we have owned this printer for about 6 months and overall very happy with it.

it is used with both Windoze XP and Mac OSX Tiger, both with printer direct to my machine, and D-Link wireless print server. have had no software issues.

all functions have worked fine in all cases. no real problems with the machine that couldn't be figured out rather quickly.

wish the cooling fan was a bit quieter, but that's not a show stopper.

the only thing that keeps me from giving 5 stars is the toner. the cartridges don't seem to last very long, and refilling with various different kits doesn't work. the print is grey and smudged. gotta buy originals to get the best print.

but we are very happy with it, has saved a ton of desktop space compared to the individual items it replaced.

I wanted a sturdy machine that uses ink affordably, feeds paper accurately and reliably, and not too slow. I didn't need color. This machine fit the bill.

I haven't owned it long, so I don't know about reliability. Paper handling is excellent. Printing is fast and looks very good -- dark and precise. Ink costs will be much lower than an inkjet. It seems carefully designed and more solidly made than most inkjets. It's Macintosh-friendly (I guess Brother makes a point of being friendly to Macintosh and Linux.) Scanning, faxing, printing all work seamlessly with OS X.

It's got a flatbed scanner for irregular originals, and a sheet feeder for scanning, faxing or copying multiple pages. The sheet feeder seems to work very well. This is really an incredible deal, considering the low price. This is a perfect machine for the user who has office work in mind, more than printing photos and other "home user" needs.

Follow-up, six months later: This machine has worked better than I could have hoped. Paper feed is very reliable, print quality is excellent, the fax function is quite reliable, and the cost of ink per page is remarkably cheap. I haven't experience a single problem with it.

I was very happy with this printer for the first 3 and a half months. The print quality was good. Then the toner cartidge said it was out so I replaced it. After that all of the copies were faded and washed out. Originally Brother's customer service said they would send a new printer. Then they called back the next day and said I had to replace the drum first even though it should get 12,000 copies, they said the warranty for that was expired. They said they would give me a discount based on the pages I had printed. Since I had printed less than 20% I expected 80% but they only offered 50% expecting me to shell out $80 more on their defective printer. I am losing business because of this.
Word of advice, buy HP. I never had a problem with my HP. My Brother sucks and so does the customer service.

All in one, it is highly convenient for my college budget AND room.

Except that it is printing 3 small dots where the punch holes should be. (it does not hole punch, but the position is accurate). I don't know why its doing it. I shook the toner for even coverage, but its still the same.

Its probably an option that I dont know about yet that is responsible for this. hmm.. I will have to go back to OfficeMax and ask. Any suggestions?

Don't get me wrong. I love this machine and I've had it for a week.

it copies great, scans wonderfully in color (i know a lot of people say its just ok, but for my purposes, its perfect). It works for personal use, not for "professional use" but the resolution is quite high.

2 more complaints. the little paper-catch flap at the front of the hole looks kind of flimsy. I dont use it. Im afraid of getting caught on it and breakin it off, so its sucked away.

the other thing is that the retrieve hole is small. If I print 25 pages, it gets clogged and out of order because the papers pile on eachother under the paper curl. (ps. the paper curl is no big deal. I'm patient with it and its flat in a few minutes)

Hope this helped. It certainly is the best printer Ive seen around, and I did a lot of price/cartridge/brand.. comparisons. its quality is great. solid. and its good-looking so you wont ever be emberissed to show it off.

the little dots bother me though. it anyone can help, id appreciat it very much.

My wife and I love this machine. I have had it for over six months and have had no problem with it. I had to replace the original toner cartridge after only six months of use, but they always give you less toner in the "starter" cartridge than in the replacements. It prints faster than the old dedicated laser printer I had and the copier, scanner, fax functions work flawlessly. I also found it relatively easy to set-up with an external answering machine so that I can always have the fax function standing by on the same line as my home phone. Unlike others, I had no trouble with the included software.

Software crashed my computer whenever I tried to install. I saw another review complaining of the same. Updated everything on my Windows XP Pro computer--bios, windows updates, and shut down all anti-virus software. Still it crashed with the blue screen first.

I called Brother tech support. When I finally go through they were no help and basically said nothing could be done. I asked them for an e-mail stating such so I could take to the store to get a refund but they refused. I got so mad I swore at the man.

Okay, I shouldn't have lost my temper. But you've been there, right? I wasted hours on this. I would not buy if I were you. This is about useless without the software.

I purchased the Brother MFC 7420 for my home office, and it is used as a secondary machine to the professional equipment at my business office. I have found it to be an extremely useful machine to have at home. Printing, copying, PC faxing, and free-standing faxing have all been good. It does a good job of receiving faxes in a home with only one phone line. It scans well into a PDF document. Scanning into other applications has not been satisfactory, and the OCR is useless.

There was a defect in the printing as soon as I received the machine. It does not print as far to the edges of the paper as it should. Technical support was unable to repair the defect, and they said that they would replace the machine under the terms of the warranty. The warranty provides for replacement with a refurbished machine. It is not acceptable to me to replace my new machine with a refurbished machine. Brother has not given me what I paid for when I purchased this machine.

I just bought a Brother MFC-7420, and the software wouldn't install. Tomorrow I will return it and getting something else.

I bought the MFC 7420 and was generally pleased with its performance. However I was getting a "double-print" when I used the front feeder and printed addresses on envelopes. When I called customer service, they could not correct the problem and advised that it was basically a design issue. I don't know how a company could market an all-in-one that cannot suitably print envelopes. What option did I have but to try a different company?

I print over 10,000 pages per year and it turns out that I'll need to replace the drum unit just about every year. That's over $100 per year extra cost. I think Brother is one of the only manufacturers that has a separate toner and drum units. HP, Samsung and other printers have both toner/drum in a single cartridge and the price difference between Brother's toner and other manufacturer's toner/drum unit seems minimal. Hence, I'll end up spending quite a bit more during the year than I originally thought. Over the years, I've owned many printers, ones from HP, Samsung, Brother and others. I've been very happy with HP and Samsung, but not so much with Brother.

It is an excellent product but did not get 5 stars because it is a little difficult to adjust the print quality i.e. darken/lighten when photocopying...

Here is my review for the sister model of MFC7420 (7820N), the only difference in 7820N is better scan resolution & Networking capabilities, the rest is the same, so my review should apply to MFC 7420 as well.

WoW ! This must be the best MFC out there. I have owned several canon, hp, lexmark MFC, photo printers, fax machines etc. This machine is it. All you need is this MFC & a separate photo printer. you are all set.

1. This is a laser MFC - scan(color), copy, fax, print
2. very fast for home/small office use
3. very compact - very space saving
4. Network ready - other computers on network can use all functions of this.
5. unlimited tech support. not just 1-year like HP/canon.
6. Machine feels sold & feels it will last long
7. All fax,copy, scan can be operated either from machine buttons or pc software interface.
8. installation was breeze
9. software is top notch. very intuitive
10. tested print, copy, scan & fax - AWESOME AWESOME.
11. they don't outsource cust support to india
12. only regrets: no duplex, no separate output tray, but from a compact machine like this, you can't expect output tray.
13. This MFC is clearly the winner. nothing else.
14. $50 cartride takes you upto 2,500 pages. not bad
15. Auto feeder works flawlessly
16. buy from local office depot store when they give $40 gift card with it.
17. you can connect any answering machine, so all you need is one line for phone callss & fax. this machine shows whether it is a phone call or fax. can use distinctive ring too.
18. backlit LCD menu
19. if you network with this printer, you don't need to buy USB cable
20. 32mb memory for printing, huge memory for fax.
21. super fast fax speed
22. Excellent looks.
23. DEDICATED MAC SUPPORT, although i only used it for Windows.

why didn't i know about Brother earlier ?