Rating: 
Summary: Excellent automatic sheetfed scanning is the high point
Review: I bought this machine specifically for scanning using the automatic document feeder (ADF) to eliminate paper filing. After very poor experiences with HP scanners for this purpose (they are terribly slow), I am impressed with the Brother. It scans 200 dpi black & white at around 8 pages per minutes and hardly ever misfeeds. For that alone it is worth the money. The next step up is a $600+ ADF scanner from Visioneer or Fujitsu. Note that there is no TWAIN driver for XP; you use the built in Windows WIA driver (which is Microsoft-grade sh*t). It gets the job done but requires you to make a few extra clicks because it doesn't store default settings. For Windows 2000, there is a TWAIN driver which works great and eliminates this problem. Still, I use it in XP and it works well enough. The fax works fine. The autodial interface is a bit clunky and the memory is limited in terms of entering calling card info (takes 2-3 buttons). But it does send and receive reliably. The print quality is so-so in black and white and worse in color. It's ok for drafts, but not for polished work. This is not my primary printer. Color scanning of photos is not great but decent for non-pro work. Ink consumption is very very thrifty. I'm on the original cartridges for months (although I do not print that much on it). I also use this with Mac OS X and OS 9. Support is good and it works well in both Mac OS's. The drivers are much more well written than HP's were (abysmal!). Overall, I am happy with the machine as a scanner. It makes a decent all-in-one for a great price if scanning is important to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: Pros: Many features and a low price.
Cons: You get what you pay for. We purchased this product because it seemed to have the most "bang-for-the-buck." Combo color inkjet printer, copier, flatbed scanner, fax machine for $80 (on sale) at Staples. Seemed too good to be true. Well...it was. The print heads have to be cleaned every few days - it takes about 5 minutes to finish - else the output is crummy. This is a real pain, especially when you are in a rush to print something out. Never had any problems with any of the HP products (2 laserjets and 1 inkjet) that I have owned over the past 15 years. Once the printer heads are clean, the overall performance of the MFC-5100C is adequate. The scanner resolution/quality is nothing the write home about and the printer output is not outstanding (even when set to the highest quality) but is ok for most of our needs. Now would I purchase this unit if I had to do it all over again? Probably not. I'd probably spend more money and buy an HP.
Rating: 
Summary: ok machine
Review: The MFC work right out of the box is a good point. No problem, but the quality is not acceptable, I have to run clean printhead 4 times with-in 1 month of take owner-ship of the machine. Take 4 minutes to print 1 page color superfine mode with picture, and the quality not superfine at all. Faxing and PC-Fax are good, fast. Scan is find, I run it with Win98sec. The machine already print 400 pages so far with 4 times clean printhead I think that to much compare to My old HP for 4 year never have one time clean printhead beside when you replace ink. I love flatbed and ADF as well, Had no paper jam so far. I need on/off swith.
Rating:
Summary: About Buyer Beware
Review: Really I am writing to see if the person that wrote the review about part missing, could explain what part was missing.
Rating:
Summary: Not very good...
Review: Perhaps I got a lemon, I don't know. It keeps telling me that I'm out of black even though I'm not. When I put a new black in, it says I'm out of black still, then it won't let me print at all anymore. I bought just a year ago. Ink is expensive. For that one year I had it it was a good printer. I guess one has to buy a printer every year, I don't know.
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE!
Review: As stated in another review, PAPER JAMS in this machine all the time! I was sent a replacement machine to rectify the issue but that one is now jamming as much as the first one did. When I called customer service, a manager told me that he would not send me an upgraded model, that there is no design problem, and that there have been no other complaints. However a customer service rep said they made a part to fix the problem (the problem that doesn't exist!) and I would receive it in 5-8 days. When I demanded he send the part overnight he said I would have to pay for it! I strongly caution against buying this machine, and if you buy another Brother product, good luck with their customer service.
Rating:
Summary: Ink abuse
Review: This printers quality is low, even on higher settings.
After 5 pages of prints, printouts are fuzzy with speckles all over. The ink usage is insane, we've already spent the cost of this printer on ink.
Installing was a bit difficult, because a key part I needed would not automatically install. I called customer support and they talked me through, but unless you're a computer guru you would be cluless.
Faxing, scanning and copying are okay.
I highly do no recommend this product, unless you want constant stress.
Rating:
Summary: I hate this machine
Review: This was our first purchase of a multifunction machine so maybe my expectations were too high, but this machine is awful. The paper jams constantly! We waste so many checks/paper because of this problem. Also, the ink needed to be replaced a couple of months after we bought it and it's not like we use it 24/7 or anything. I did just notice someone else wrote about the fact that you can't use the machine at all if one of the ink cartridges (there are 4)are out of ink. We found this out the hard way while we were trying to print things that needed to go out the following morning. The print quality isn't good either. i have to do the self cleaning process very frequently as the print is very streaky.
I would caution anyone buying this machine...
Rating:
Summary: Buyer beware!
Review: By its own admission, Brother shipped this product to dealers with a critical part missing. The result is that about 25% of all pages jam when printing thereby resulting in waste and extreme frustration. When I called Customer Service to voice my dissatisfaction, I was assured that Brother would over-night the part to me. Naturally, the part did not arrive. When I called back I was told that the part was on back order and the rep could not provide any e.t.a. If you want to buy this product, make sure that the part is included.
Rating:
Summary: can't print black only
Review: After using this machine for several months, it flashed the need for all three color cartridges. It still had black ink, but (as I discovered at their website) this machine will not print if ANY one ink cartridge needs replacement. It appears that cartridges have a microchip that prevents refill and reuse, and "knows" when you re-insert old cartridge.
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