When my legal sized scanner that I had for at least ten years started to breakdown, I went out searching for a new one. It had to be at least legal size though bigger was better, and preferably an all-in-one to save space. If it was also a color laser, that would be the best. The Brother Professional Series Inkjet All-in-One (MFCJ6710DW) was the second machine I came across out of many that had a scan bed larger than 8.5 x 11. As the larger scanner was the first priority, the fact it was an all-in-one and color, would work.

Some of the features of this machine include scanning, copying, printing and faxing up to ledger (11 x 17) size. It is wireless allowing multiple users access to it. The auto-duplex feature prints double sided automatically allowing you to not only save on paper, but there is no need to print one side and then flip the pages over and put them back into the machine. There are two types of ink cartridges available -- high yield and super high yield allowing for more page printing at a lower cost per page. There are two memory stick slots as well as an USB input; dual paper trays which will hold up to 500 sheets of paper together; a 3.3" color LCD display for menu navigation; a separate pass through feeder for envelopes and thicker paper. The print speeds are up to 35 PPM black and 27 PPM color.

My favorite features of this machine are the 11 x 17 scan bed, auto sheet feeder for scanning or copying multiple pages and the Nuance PaperPort software that came with it. The software allows me to scan black and white, grayscale or color documents, color photographs or color PDF documents and searchable PDF files. There are multiple output file types for images including JPEG, PDF, TIFF, BMP and PaperPort's own format. For text -- OCR is built in! -- you can save as a Word DOC or XML, Excel, Word Perfect, Text, Rich Text Format or CSV files and there are multiple languages to choose from. Scanning of images can also be done directly into graphic and layout programs such as Photoshop, CorelDraw and PageMaker, which are the programs I use.

I also like the duplex printing feature -- this machine printed booklets double-sided and collated them. This saved me so much time and was easy to setup to print. And while it printed, I went and did other things.

My not-so-favorite features include the pass through feeder for envelopes and thicker paper. This opens at the back of the machine. Being that the machine accommodates 11 x 17" paper, it has a large footprint, which is to be expected. For the space available, the opening on the back requires pulling the machine away from the wall and turning it to be able to open the feed tray without disconnecting any plugs. Color quality on photo paper is pretty good, and on plain paper okay. Most of my color printing is on heavy matte photo paper that I print on both sides. This is where this machine falls short for me because access to the back is difficult and the duplex feature won't work with the heavy paper feeding from the paper trays on the front.

At the time I had bought my original scanner, all-in-one machines had not yet been invented. So in the office I had a scanner, one inkjet and two LaserJet printers, and a fax machine. Getting this all-in-one made it possible to reduce office equipment by three machines; the scanner, fax and the laser printer that printed on 12 x 18 paper and was huge!

The best part I saved for last. Just for comparison, the three machines that were replaced by this Brother machine originally cost $2,500 total. The retail price of this Brother all-in-one machine when I first saw it was $299.00. When I finally made up my mind to buy it, it was on sale for $199.00. So all in all I think I got a terrific machine at a super price and I would definitely recommend it.