I tried a couple of fax services but found them clumsy to use and more pricey than I was willing to pay. Though I don’t fax often anymore, I like having my own machine when I do it, and the price of AIOs has dropped precipitously. (Of course, the price of AIO ink is ridiculous.)

Does your laptop even have a telephone port?
They used to all have a fax-capable modem/port built in but I haven’t seen that for a long time.

Is scanning and sending a pdf as an attachment an option?

Or… I’ll bet there are some fax machines on the shelf at your neighborhood GoodWill for less than $10. That would cover you until you get your new AIO and in case of emergency.

Windows Fax and Scan is part of Windows 7

If your computer does not have a modem and phone port, you can get a USB modem. The U.S. Robotics USR5637 is an excellent model. Cheaper modems (sometimes called softmodems or winmodems) are not reliable.

However, as @LuckyGuy suggests, I would always ask if you can email a PDF instead of a fax. I still have to fax sometimes (medical and bank records), but I always ask if I can email instead.

Barring all else, if need be, your local library will probably have a fax machine you can use for a few cents. Might not be your ideal solution, but might do as a stop-gap.

Let’s just say for now that emailing a PDF is not an option, because of prior arrangements made with the recipient and I wish to avoid the whole new rigmarole of setting up a new procedure while making sure that no mistakes are made.
@dabbler @jaytkay My laptop does not have a phone port, but I do have a phone-to-USB adapter cable. Would this work? I used to fax thru the cable modem (provided by my internet service provider), so I believe that it has a fax modem built in.
So, I’m thinking that maybe I could scan my hard-copy documents, combine them with other documents that I get via email attachments, using something like PDF Split and Merge, then use Windows Fax (thank you, @jaytkay) to send the fax along after connecting the adapter cable mentioned above. What do you think?
Hey, @Darth_Algar, the library is a great idea. I’ll see what they have.

I do have a phone-to-USB adapter…I used to fax thru the cable modem

I think you have the hardware. Figuring out the software will probably take some fussing but it sounds like you have the concept down.

Thank you, @jaytkay.