Home > Consumer Reviews > Brother MFC-8440 Laser Multifunction

I run a home office and am a heavy user of printing, scanning, faxing and copying. This unit replaced an old copier and an older printer/fax.

Installation gave me error messages. My system does have a lot of software and drivers on a WinXP Pro SP2 operating system. I was able to manually get the drivers installed. No, I didn't have the patience to call Brother.

Function in all modalities is superb. Text print quality and speed are excellent. Graphics are good.

Copying and fax work like a charm, both sheetfed and flatbed.

I compared the color scanning against my Epson 2450 Photo scanner. For routine scanning, I prefer the Brother. If I need to tweak a scan, I'll use the Epson. That's a pretty good recommendation!

I can highly recommend this product (with the one installation caution). Others have not reported install problems and I suspect this was my fairly complex system.

If you need a laser based AIO, by all means give this a try!

This is the best MFC out there -- no question. It scans at lightening speeds with the automatic sheet feeder. The printer prints very fast too at 21 ppm. Terrific controls, with multi-line display. This machine is built to last. I spent several months comparing all of the MFCs out there. I really needed a good scanner with a sheet feeder, but wanted to have the flexibility of a flat bed (for things that won't feed through a scanner. This unit does it all. Brother is definitely leading the way with this one!

I've only had this unit for several days but am greatly impressed with the sophistication of this machine.

I've already added the extra tray and increased the on-board memory to the max. Every day I discover some additional feature that I didn't know that I had. If you buy this machine, shop for those add-ons.

The only fault that I can find is that you can't select the 2nd tray from the machine unless you're printing copies. You need to go to your Windows control panel and select the printer to change your preference to the second tray if you use that tray for printing checks, etc.

A feature that I really like is the "sleep" feature. I have mine set for 5 minutes and the machine powers down to save energy.

Based on feedback from other owners and my personal experience, this is a terrific bargain.

I recently purchased the Brother MFC 8440 for my busy medical practice. This was my first Brother purchase. I was previously a loyal HP user. I had heard such good things about this multifunction device before buying it. I can now say they are ALL true.

The machine works like a charm. I networked the printer through a print server and it works great. Documents print quickly and look sharp too. Copies have great resolution and are produced quickly as well. Faxes are a breeze. I've even used the sheet feed document scanner and it works unbelievably well on black and white text documents. In fact, the Brother MFC saved me from buying a separate sheet fed document scanner. I had my whole office set-up through CompUSA's business service and they had no problems with the installation.


All in all, this is an incredible, indespensible office machine. I would give it 6 stars if it were possible. Believe the hype on this product. It legitmately copies, faxes, prints, and scans as well as any other comparably priced single function product. I can't imagine anyone not liking this product.

UPDATE
After 1 year of use, this machine is still working great. We have had zero mechanical or software problems with this machine. We are averaging about 5,000 - 10,000 pages of printing per month. When and if it dies, I will definitely buy another.

1. Phenomenal value for the money. Bought mine for $375 at efax.com. However, Costco is currently selling for $359 with an Instant $20 rebate and $40 Brother Mail In rebate.

2. I called Brother... apparently "shipped" or out-of-the-box toner is a "sample" catridge. Good for 20% of full-toner catridge, which equals ~20%.