BIOS: Technology Means Business

Brother’s latest product launch is its first ever mono sheet-fed inkjet fax machines. The three models are all designed for the small business and home office, and all have a print/copy resolution of 600x600dpi and copy speed of 18 copies per minute. They are far from being the most feature-rich or proficient in terms of performance, but are well built and good value for money (the top-end model even comes with a DECT phone). It’s worth mentioning at this point that all three are standalone fax/copy machines, and are not designed to connect to a computer like an all-in-one printer.

The Fax-1360 (£68.08 ex. VAT) is the base model and has a 14.4Kbit/s modem, handset with cord, copy resolution of 600x600 pixels and TX Transit memory allowing up to 250 pages to be stored if paper runs out. The Fax-1460 (£85.10 ex. VAT) is the next model in the range, which sports the same features of the Fax-1360 with the addition of memory security and speakerphone. It also has a message manager allowing voice messages to be left on the answer phone. At the top of the line up is the Fax-1560 (£99.99 ex. VAT), which has all of the features and benefits of the Fax-1460 with the addition of a DECT handset. The Fax-1560 can also be used as a base station with a further three GAP-compatible DECT handsets.

This latest range of machines are designed to run alongside Brother’s new colour inkjet all-in-ones, and promise to make home office or small business tasks easier, quicker and more convenient. Sporting an extremely compact design (407x293x198mm, 6kg) with neatly-folding paper trays, all of the faxes in the range use Brother’s LC1000BK single blank pigment ink cartridge producing a yield of up to 500 pages with 5% coverage. Unfortunately this a very low yield, and if you frequently print you’ll soon come to resent the cost of replacement ink cartridges (£11.43 ex. VAT). On the plus side, the black ink tank is the only consumable you have to install, making setting up and running the machines a snap.

For quick, easy-to-use monochrome faxing and copying, Brother’s Fax-1560 does the job nicely. The fixed single-line, 16-character LCD display is sufficient - if a little hard to read at times - and essential features like automatic redial, fax forwarding, 250-page document memory (or up to 29 minutes of calls), 10 one-touch speed dials, 100 coded speed dials, six group dials, and automatic Fax/Tel switch make life easier. 16MB memory and 20-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) is actually pretty good for such as reasonably-priced desktop fax machine, but a 100-sheet paper capacity and 14.4Kbit/s (most are 33.6Kbit/s) modem won’t suit busy offices.

The Fax-1560 has further limitations. Unlike more robust workhorses, it won’t suit workgroups or corporates because it lacks networking options. Therefore, you can’t scan to either image or PDF formats and send by e-mail. You can’t simultaneously send documents to a combination of fax and e-mail addresses, either. There’s no ISDN option for even faster communication speeds, nor does it support departmental codes for monitoring transmission costs. What’s more, brother has no concern for confidentiality. Finishing on a plus note, you can be assured of solid build quality and reasonable fax/copy quality. In short, the Fax-1560 offers a reasonable set of features for home users and small offices (up to five people), but it doesn’t offer professional quality (text is pale and jaggy) and isn’t designed for heavy use. We think you’re better off buying an all-on-one device which further adds PC functionality such as colour flatbed scanning and printing. [6]

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