Brother MFC-8440 Multifunction Laser Printer Reviews

Nothing makes you feel more comfortable than knowing your printer was made by a company named, “Brother.” The fraternal bond between you and printer forms immediately upon its purchase, and you feel that no matter what bully forces you to change the ink cartridge or get paper jams — Brother will get you out of it.

The Brother MFC-8440 is advertised as being a 5-in-1 multifunction laser printer that faintly resembles a hammerhead shark if a hammerhead shark could print and scan and fax and copy.

The reason we say “advertised” is because, no matter how hard we look, we can’t find the fifth option — and we can’t quite imagine what a fifth option would be. Yes, it scans, yes, it faxes, yes it prints and yes it copies — which makes four. What could that fifth option possibly be? Text messaging? Bluetooth? Teleportation?

We’re not sure. But what it does do it does well — and at the low cost (well, fairly low — more on this later), it does become a more or less worthy addition to your home or office.

The printer is a 21-ppm laster printer that can print up to 2400 x 600 dpi resolution — it’s also an up to 21-cpm legal-size digital copier (which can make enlargements and deductions from 25 to 400 percent), a fax machine with PC capability, and a 9,600 x 9,600 dpi flatbed scanner.

It’s a good all-in-one machine with a mysterious fifth feature (figure the feature out! Fun for the whole family!) — and there are only two problems. Brother, as opposed to the fraternal connection we all expected, has awful, awful support. It’s the equivalent of you asking your brother for help and him putting you under a laundry basket and sitting on it. Or, say, him waking you up in the middle of the night to tell you you’re all going to Disneyland, and once you pack your things he says he was kidding and goes back to bed…

…so, yes. Bad support.

Also, as opposed to many other printers, this one uses a combined toner and drum unit — meaning if one or the other runs out or breaks — you have to get the combo pack to replace it, meaning in the end, you’ll be paying quite a bit more than you expected you would be.

It is, however, a good and fairly cheap printer (and fax, scanner, copier) — and if you have the money to afford the cartridge/drum unit — you won’t be disappointed.

Things That Make It Special:

* PC and Mac compatible.
* Parallel and USB interfaces.
* Prints, copies, scans, and faxes — a 5-in-1 printer! (What?!).
* Up to 21 ppm print speed.
* Up to 2,400 x 600 dpi print resolution.
* Up to 21 cpm copy speed — allows you to reduce/enlarge 25% to 400%.
* Fax forward and paging — with up to 390 broadcast locations.
* Mysterious fifth feature allows you to control all human life.