Brother MFC-8600 Toner Cartridges

Brother MFC-8600 Printer Review

The Brother MFC-8600 is a multifunction monochrome laser printer designed for the home or small office user. It has virtually every feature a small office would need in one compact, affordable machine. The Brother MFC-8600 can print, scan, copy, and fax. It is ideal for replacing multiple devices with one all-in-one device, or for the user who is upgrading from a dedicated printer to one with more functionality. Of all of its functions, faxing may be its weakest. Its slow faxing speed of 14.4 kbps falls behind competing products, somewhat, but users who only need to do occasional faxing may not notice.

The unit has a 30-page automatic document feeder, allowing multiple pages to be scanned at once, for scanning, faxing, or copying. Sadly, the MFC-8600 doesn't have a flatbed scanner, meaning it can't scan materials that won't fit into the document feeder, such as books and stapled or bound materials. Scanning quality is generally good, but not as sharp as some competing products, and certainly not as good as a dedicated scanner.

Brother MFC-8600 toner cartridges are fairly inexpensive, which gives the user a low cost per page. Using the high-yield toner cartridge, with a capacity of 6,000 pages, will save even more money over the standard Brother MFC-8600 toner cartridges, with a capacity of only 3,000 pages.

Print quality is excellent, with sharp and detailed text. Graphics and photo quality is average. Faxes with graphical elements look good, but prints and copies are less than impressive. Print speed is up to 12 pages per minute, which is around average for its price and class.

Overall, the Brother MFC-8600 is an impressive machine. It has a wide array of features, but its slow fax speeds and lack of a flatbed scanner might be issues for some buyers.