Brother has a lot of expertise in the design of office equipment, especially fax machines and telephony gadgets. This new multi-function device takes advantage of this and really is an all-in-one, incorporating faxing and telephone answering, as well as providing standard print, scan and copy functions.

Even with these extra facilities, the design of the control panel is very logical and easy to use, after only a cursory glance at the manual. It incorporates a two-line, backlit LCD display and gives sensible messages. Fitting a backlight to this kind of panel makes it so much easier to read; we're surprised they're not always used.

Memory card slots for SmartMedia, CompactFlash and MemoryStick are built into the left-hand front edge of the MFC-4820C, so you can upload images from a digital camera to a PC through the machine. The device connects to a PC via a standard USB cable, while other sockets at the back connect to the telephone line and mains power.

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This is an unusually low-to-the-desk design, largely thanks to the new ink-jet engine developed by Brother. It uses a piezo-electric print head, similar technology to that used by Epson in its printers. Paper feeds from a near-vertical tray at the rear out to another at the front, ensuring a clear paper path but detracting from the machine's low profile.

The MFC-4820C scans at up to 600ppi and prints at up to 1,200ppi, but oddly can only copy at up to 600 x 150dpi. This resolution is rather low for good detail in a copy and this was noticeable in some of the printouts we produced with the machine. One interesting and useful feature is that you can print to within half a millimetre of any edge of an A4 sheet.

Print quality is generally fair for colour graphics, though not as good as the leaders in this field, whose print engines are now in their fourth or fifth generations. There is some noticeable banding in photo prints, though it's not particularly marked. Black text print is crisp and dense, well up to the standard of inkjet print from this kind of device.

Four separate ink cartridges plug in under the device's front lip, and you can replace these individually, which should provide benefits in running costs, although you should check the cost of the cartridges from your preferred retailer.

This is a neat, well-designed multi-function machine, with fax and telephone answering facilities built in. Brother's new print engine is easy to use, capable of reasonable print quality and comparatively cheap to run.