It's hard to make a recommendation without knowing more about what your fax needs are. If this is going to be a low-use, personal fax machine then either one would probably work. But if it's going to be used in a high-volume mission critical business application, then I'd want something more than a consumer-grade fax. Will this fax be on a dedicated line or will you be using it on an existing voice line? Will you be the only user of this fax? Which do you do more of, SEND fax or RECEIVE fax? (or do you do both equally?) For myself, I send far more than I receive and find it much more convenient to scan hardcopy into my computer and fax it directly from there through my Officejet 4500. It's much easier than hoping that multiple pages go through the document feeder without getting jammed up.