Initially, I was aiming at Canon MX 885 as my benchmark for printing speed/quality based on my research on a few website reviews. I made up my mind until I saw the actual physical unit in the store. The printer is bulky and the built quality is not to my liking.

The Brother MFC-J825DW ($150 street), also available as the MFC-835DW with only superficial differences, manages to largely match expectations for a Brother inkjet multi-function printer (MFP) while also providing a few surprises.

Prints, scans, copies, faxes; Automatic document feeder; Connects with selected Web sites including Picasa and Google Docs

Low paper capacity; No paper handling options; Text quality is a touch below par for inkjet MFPs

This printer was indeed purchased at a bargain price BUT the tray on which CDs are mounted for printing was not with the rest of the components. This was one of the reasons I even considered buying it.

Brother has been making neat, well-featured all-in-ones for many years and each new generation gets more refined and useful, though the core piezo inkjet engine is still much the same as before.

iPrint&Scan for easy phone transfer; Fast print and copy for class; CD/DVD direct print

Pale colour copies; Fiddly photo paper tray; Plain paper print quality only average

Was looking for an inexpensive all in one and bought this one on sale. I have been impressed so far with how easy it was to setup and how well it works on wifi. I even downloaded the brother app and was able to print directly with an ipad and iphone.

The Brother MFC-J825W, at $229, represents the higher end of home office multifunction inkjet printers. As you'd expect it's got every feature that this price-point demands: an automatic document feeder, a split photo/plain paper tray, scan/copy/fax built-in, a 3.3in touchscreen and direct printing...

Feature-packed; Limited Web connectivity

Low paper capacity

It's outclassed as a photo printer but Brother's MFC-J825DW doesn't even offer much in the way of advanced office features to help it stand out from the bunch (includes Canon PIXMA MX926 , HP Photosmart 7520 and Epson Expression Premium XP-700 ).

Brother introduced four new all-in-one inkjet models targeted at the small office, home office market a few weeks ago just in time for the back-to-school frenzy.

Print quality; Variety of features; Ease of use

Inflated print speeds; Average paper capacity

The Brother MFC-J825DW packs in plenty of features and produces printed documents speedily, but it's marred by below-par print quality across text, graphics and photos.

After having problems with paper feed on my 15 months old HP printer (prior to this HP I had an earlier HP printer that was trouble free for 6 years, but my last experience with HP was that the build quality was lower in the later model I got).

Great print; scan; copy quality; cheap compatible inks; front loading paper tray; excellent UI

Poorly placed ports for USB; power; telephone etc