Brother 2820 Toner
Intellifax 2820 Toner Cartridges

The Brother Intellifax 2820 is a monochrome laser fax machine with multifunction capabilities designed for the small office environment. It features fast copy and print speeds, but its faxing speeds can be a little slow. For a higher output multifunction printer, the Brother MFC-9420 toner printer should be considered.

While Brother refers to the 2820 as a fax machine, sometimes calling it IntelliFAX, this is somewhat of a misnomer, as the Intellifax 2820 is really a multifunction device at heart. The unit is capable of printing, faxing, and copying, and can do all of these functions standalone, except for printing, without the need for a connected computer. When copying and printing, it can churn out around 15 pages per minute, making it a capable monochrome laser printer. Its document feeder can only hold 20 sheets at a time, so don't expect to copy large volumes of documents automatically.

The 2820 lacks expandability. The Brother 2820 toner cartridge's maximum capacity is 2,500 pages, with no higher-yield cartridges available, and the starter Brother Intellifax 2820 toner cartridge that is shipped with the printer only has a capacity of 1,500 pages. The printer's paper capacity is limited to 250 sheets, with no expansion options available. Growing offices may hit the limit of the printer's capacity very quickly.

The fax capabilities of the 2820 are fairly standard. The unit supports G3, has a handset, and can even send faxes from a connected PC, although it can not receive them. Its transmission speed of 14.4 Kbps makes it a little slow, and for a unit labeled as a fax machine, this is disappointing, as many multifunction devices have faster transmission speeds.

As a printer and copier, print speeds are fairly fast, at around 15 pages per minute. Print quality is quite good, with sharp text and good graphics quality. The driver software is as full-featured as any Brother printer, and is not stripped-down in any way.

Overall, the Brother Intellifax 2820 is a decent multifunction machine with a good set of features. Its faxing speeds are a bit slow, and it lacks scanning, keeping it from being a true all-in-one machine.