Brother MFC-8500 Laser Multifunction Center

it is a great printer have had this since 2001 the only problem is that it is not compatiable with the new computer with vista u can download the program but still does not work great wish brother would get it striaght soon hate too buy a new one
but if u want a work horse this is the one for u

I have 5 of these machines in various offices I have and love them. they are strictly set up as fax machines because they will print off page 1 of what you are faxing along with your confirmation instead of just number of pages sent to a certain phone number. We deal with doctors and need to prove what we are faxing. I have a couple that are 6-7 years old with no problems the entire time.

Thought I'd update everyone as I use the 8500 on Windows Server 2003. You can get it to print by downloading a patch from the brother website, and then use the HL-720 print driver, but all other functions such as scanning and such are not available. This work around is merely to print.

Overall, the machine is OK for a laser printer but sub-standard for faxing etc.

I've had this boat anchor of a multifunction printer for a year, and I'm getting rid of it. I've owned HPs and IBMs before and they've never cost me in supplies what this thing has. See the drum listed in supplies? You're gonna need one about every 2nd or 3rd toner cartridge. That's right, boys and girls, this slug is gonna cost you it's suggested retail price in toner and drums every few thousand sheets. And, amazingly, even with replacing the drum, which seems to last the life of the machine on other units from HP or IBM, the print quality STILL never returns to "like new". Buyer beware...

Our company has been using the brother mfc-8500 for about 3 years now without any major problems. As far as the performance of faxing, copying, and printing goes, the machine works very well. The print outs are always very good and clear. Rarely have we ever had any problem receiving or sending faxes. I would defintely recommend this machine for small to medium businesses with a high volume of faxes and printing to do. My only complaints about this machine are I continually have problems when trying to print envelopes through the manual feed. It consistently gives me an error message and I have to open the door and shut it again to get it to work right. Also, the change toner soon message comes on, yet I am able to print just fine for a long while after it comes on. Eventually it won't let me print even when the last copy came out just fine. Also, it has said "Change Drum Soon" for a while, though everything is working fine. I did finally change the drum and the message still says I need to change it. Despite these few minor things it is a very good machine.