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Brother MFC-640CW Color Multi-Function Center, Wireless Network Ready | List Price: $329.99
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Brand: Brother
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Wireless 802.11b/g and Wired Network Interfaces
- Prints up to 20ppm black and 15ppm color
- Print resolutions up to 6000 x 1200 dpi
- 10-Page Automatic Document Feeder
- Memory card slots accepts digital camera media cards
Brother Did It This Time, Great Machines [Posted on 2006-09-24]
For some years Brother has tried to produce a really good MFC, they never quite succeeded, their fax machines of which I had one for many years were ok.
I recently saw the new MFC-440CN, almost identical with the 640CW, I bought it.
It looked so great I could not resist it, so, I took it home, after setting it up partially, I was amazed, it produced printed pictures that were superb in the photo mode, on Canon Glossy paper, with photos that were shot with cameras in the 5 meg and 10 meg mode, all were gorgeous, time time varied from .75 minutes to 1.5 minutes, very acceptable.
Then set up the fax mode, was very easy, instructions even made it even easier, sent some faxes, all were fine, went into a place that faxes, sent myself a fax, perfect, then made some copies with the sheet feeder, just fine.
My last step was to set it up through a router, software was self prompting (at least to me) Brother soft ware picked up all my parameters, no sweat, with the router printer works perfectly.
I could not be happier, an excellent machine.
Last but not least, I love the paper feed, all paper is contained in one tray, 4 x 6, 8 1/2 x 11 or whatever, and, the paper feed is powered, not gravity fed, I am very pleased.
great fax, printer, copier, scanner [Posted on 2007-01-10]
We were very happy when this machine arrived (I stopped having to give my husband's work fax number whenever I needed to fax or be faxed). I was going to buy the cheapest fax machine, but he did some research and found this, slightly more expensive but fantastic piece of equipment. I am scanning in kid's artwork, copying photos doing amazing things I would never have imagined possible for such a good price. No regrets.
To Many Problems with this Model [Posted on 2007-04-01]
We have used this printer for about 13 months. It has already been repaired onces where the problem was not fixed. It currently does not print correct color, scan correct color and feeds the paper incorrectly. We our at the point of thinking that this printer is so broken that we have to replace it.
Also half the time it says the ink is out. At times we put new ink in and it still says the ink is out. We are diffently not going look at brother printers as a replacemnt considering this one barelly lastest a year.
Love it -- when it works [Posted on 2008-06-26]
When it works, we love it. But it doesn't always work! We've had the printer a long time, over a year for sure. After a few months, it quit responding to wireless print requests. Prints fine if we plug in as USB, but does nothing if we print over the wireless network. Downloading and installing new firmware fixed the problem -- for a few weeks, then the wireless print stopped again.
Fax of all trades [Posted on 2008-09-17]
The problem with multifunction fax/copier/scanner/telephone/printers is that they tend to do everything in a fairly lackluster way. This machine is, on the whole, better than the average multifunction machine, and provides crisp, clear printouts. It's color printing is very true. It's also fairly compact, which is a real plus in the cramped space of a home office. However, it does have some problems. A few are merely annoying, but some are potentially hazardous to the health of your home-based business.
The set-up of the MFC 640cw is complicated, and so are all but the most basic operations. This machine has multiple reading drives for various types of media. That's a lot of inputs. There are enough buttons and lights on the control panel to launch a GPS satellite. It also has a "universal function" control which requires a degree from MIT to decipher and use efficiently. Set-up took more than an hour. That's just too long.
Speed's an issue---It copies and prints slowly, even in basic black and white. Speed's also an issue because the machine tends to overheat on larger jobs. Overheating leads to shutdowns for cooling off, after which the machine will resume the job. Unfortunately, once overheated, it tends to overheat again and again, more quickly. Thus, jobs of 50 pages or more can take hours to complete. For normal daily use this might not be much of a problem, but, again, if you are running a home-based business, it might be. A sender once uploaded 250 pages of fax to my machine, which clogged the memory. The machine insisted on needing to print the whole mess, and it took tech support TWO ENTIRE DAYS to figure out what I needed to do to clear the memory. The machine also tends to develop paper jams and yank printed pages back into its mechanism on any job over seven or eight pages in length.
The MFC-640cw has a really crummy built-in answering system, so don't depend on it. It's an effectively unusable function, which cuts off most messages after 30 seconds, no matter what incoming message time is set.
Using four different ink cartridges is an expensive proposition, particularly since they tend to become exhausted randomly. Changing one cartridge tends to affect the machine's sensitivity, which will then indicate that another (and another) (and another) cartridge needs changing. Frequently, the cartridges aren't even halfway spent when the machine gives an INSTALL INK message. Vigorous shaking sometimes works to cancel a message, but be careful of splattering ink all around. An INSTALL INK message causes the machine not to function, even if you're printing in BLACK and CYAN needs changing. Additionally, the machine has no low ink warning chime or light. The message on the display is easy to miss, and intermittent. Frequently, it just won't print, and you won't even know it isn't working. One time, I changed the MAGENTA cartridge and had 30 unexpected and important faxes spill from the memory days after they were sent. There's no MESSAGE IN MEMORY indicator, either.
Lastly, it's prone to occasional bizarre behavior. Whether it's the software or the interface, the machine sometimes produces half copies or simply has functional hiccups for no particular reason. I find that it prints out letterhead on blank pages and then immediately prints the complete letterheaded document, leaving me with some nice blank sheets of letterhead. I've never figured out why, and tech support doesn't know either.
The bottom line is that this is an adequate machine that produces nice printouts, but you're well-advided to have spare ink always on hand. It works well when it works, but it lacks some basic features that it really should have. I use it as a backup printer, but it serves as my primary fax, copier and scanner.
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