Fax machines are almost in every office, business establishments, and hotels and even became a household appliance as well. Fax machines made it possible to easily transmit documents in exchanging information from one workplace to another.

With the variety of companies producing fax machines, we need to review which ones are the best. There are certain specifications, which we need to consider in choosing the best buy among these machines. We should identify the fax machine based on our own needs and consider our budget.

• Printing Technology. Plain office paper is commonly used in fax machines. Less expensive fax machines use thermal printing technology and are less in quality compared to printouts from the inkjet fax machines. Inkjet fax machines can print with color and the quality is much better. There are also laser fax machines having the best quality in print.

• Speed. Fax machines come with different printing speeds, ranging from 15 seconds per page up to the fastest at about 3 seconds per page. If speed is not your concern, it is best to buy the slower model to save money.

• Memory. Fax machines are equipped with built-in memory to store pages coming in and going out. This allows the machine to keep an incoming fax just in case it needs paper reloading, and immediately prints the fax message when paper is reloaded. The best is to have at least 512KB of memory. Some latest models can have as much as 8 to 16MB, which can store 480 pages.

• Added Features. New models are equipped with additional features such as speakerphones, caller ID, and digital answering machines.

The most recommended fax machines are those that use plain paper. The earlier models use thermal transfer paper, which is not good since the paper easily curls and the prints fade easily. Nowadays, laser fax machines are not so expensive. Usually it costs $200 which is a good price considering the quality of prints by these machines.

One of the leading brands of fax machine is the 1940CN Brother IntelliFax. The speed is excellent having 3 second of transmission. It offers great features such as it can store up to 480 pages with its memory, 20 pages automatic document feeders, 100 sheet paper cassettes and comes with an answering machine. The answering machine can record 30 minutes of voice message.

Next comes the Hewlett Packard 1050 Inkjet Fax. This machine can transmit 1 page of fax message in just 3 seconds. It can save 100 pages of fax message with its built-in memory. It also features a speakerphone and remote access for the answering machine.

Another one of the good fax machines is the HP Fax 1240. The machine is equipped with colored ink. The memory can store up to 200 fax messages. It has the capacity of 100-sheet input and 20-sheet output.

For an occasional use and a not so demanding performance, the Brother IntelliFax-1270e is one of the good ones. It uses the old thermal ribbon transfer technology. This fax machine can only print in black and white. This machine is a good choice for home use or for personal use. This model is slower, with 9 seconds in transmitting compared to its predecessors but is suitable for its purpose. It does not have an answering machine capability.

Fax machines made by Oki are particularly for medium to large companies. They produce fax machines with costly laser printing technology. Now, the less expensive model is the Okifax 4580, which costs around $380. The transmission speed is 3 seconds per page. It has a 20 page ADF, sheet capacity of 100 and only prints in black and white. It can send fax messages up to 120 locations and creates 50 copies.

The Canon L80 is the cheaper predecessor of Okifax 4580 with almost half of the price. The Canon L80 shares the same specifications of the Okifax 4580.