Can you recommend a good, cheap fax/copier/scanner for the office?

We need to purchase a plain paper fax/copier/scanner for the office and have had trouble in the past getting one that is easy to use, connects to our computer, and lasts without costing a fortune. Any suggestions? It needs features like an address book with group entries, the ability to send out multiple faxes like a press release, dependibility and good quality scanning.

One of the enduring problems with multifunction units that do printing/faxing/copying/scanning is that, by providing all these functions in one unit, sacrifices are made in the quality and features offered for each function. You may want to check out the relatively new Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet K80. It has a group faxing capacity, an address book of fax numbers and can be configured for a network with an optional accessory to share all functions. There are cheaper multifunction units - this one lists at $499.<:LINEBREAK:>Check out CNET's Multifunction reviews for some good comparisons.

As ConsumerSearch points out, finding info online about faxes is not easy. Especially reviews comparing detailed functions like address book groups etc.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>Adding to what Eric said, here are some of the basics:<:LINEBREAK:>* For the combination above, a _plain-paper_ machine is a *must*.<:LINEBREAK:>* An inkjet machine will _generally_ cost less than $300, a laser machine more than $200.<:LINEBREAK:>* One of the main "sacrifices" these machines make is that they are not designed to do huge amounts of copying. Don't imagine you will be able to rely on this single machine to do all of your copying if your office has more than 3 people in it. You will kill your machine far sooner than if you got a cheap, dedicated copying machine.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>By the way- Eric's link also takes you to a pretty exhaustive review list of all printers (via the links on the right), and you can find more of what you are looking for under the several "multi-function" listings.<:LINEBREAK:><:LINEBREAK:>However, it is quite easy to get completely lost in CNET's review pages and find far more reviews than you ever need. It might be worth your while to quiz other nonprofits (on this forum and elsewhere), then plug in the names of the machines they use into CNET's reviews and see what you come up with.