Brother MFC-6490cw

I work in a SOHO and was looking for a printer that I could use to print drawings on 11x17" paper so they could be folded and put in a standard file folder. I was surprised to find that very few printers… in that size range ware rated very high by their users, yet they were pretty pricey. So I was really pleased to find a multifunction 11x17 printer with an 11x17 flatbed scanner! I was skeptical at the relatively low price but encouraged by the mostly poitive reviews it received. I ordered it from Amazon and, as usual, it arrived on time, well packaged and in perfect condition. I have used this printer for about two weeks now and my application is engineering and technical graphics. I have to say that this unit has exceeded my expectations and I would highly recommend it. I have no allusions that this would be the best choice as a central document center for a high volume workgroup where it would get abused, but for my small office where it is networked with two computers it is a genuine value. I found it easy to set up on my wired network, and very easy to use. I agree with other reviews that the colors are not as vibrant as you would want for a quality photo printer but for technical documents it is very satisfactory. The first page out is a little slow but after that it zips right along. The scanner captures images very accurately, the user interface is very intuitive and the construction is sturdier than I expected for the price. I have not yet unplugged my fax and started to use this but I am confident that it will handle that function well when I do so. I believe it will serve me well for many years.

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I'm very pleased with this printer because it does so many things so well. Even the color quality apears good to me, on coated paper at least. The only reason I held back from a full 5 stars is that some… instructions have to be keyed in, such as paper size, a bit more often than one might expect--it confused me at first. Otherwise it's great. And, if you should need a little help getting it started, I found the customer service (telephone) person unusually responsive.

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I've had this printer for some 9 months now, and I feel it was an excellent choice. Others admire it, too, and are always showing up with something that needs printing, copying, scanning or faxing. I… selected this printer to replace my old HP 1130 which accepted 11x17 paper. This was the only color multifunction ink jet I could find in my price range that does tabloid sizes. It is too big for the average desk and should sit on its own printer stand. I must disagree with some reviews I read. For instance, one person said, "The LED screen is very complicated...changing trays or paper size or reduction is confusing. Too many buttons, too many options....". I don't understand where they're coming from. It couldn't be easier for me. When I want to copy, I just hit the copy button and then the start button. It's just that simple. If I want more than one copy, I select the number from the numerical keypad. For size reduction, press the arrow down button once and you are on the Enlarge/Reduce line. Use the left and right arrow keys to select the amount of enlargement or reduction and press the start key. What could be simpler? "As a copier, it's slow." Yes, it's slower than I'd like, but I remind myself that it is an ink jet printer, not a copier. Large or multiple copy jobs should be performed on a real copier. "There is nothing to catch the output pages so very often, especially with legal paper, they land on the floor and you need to figure out the order they belong in." Not true. The top paper tray has a front tab that gets pulled out and up. This keeps the paper from falling out. Try it; it works. I am responsible for printing business cards for several people. Using Avery, I never have any problems with the printer for cards and labels. I did find that greeting cards didn't work well, and I messed up practically the entire box. Those were Office Depot brand, which I suspect caused the problem. I've never had any problem with the automatic document feeder, either, and I use it practically every day. Perhaps those having issues are stacking too much paper in the tray. If you print a lot of photos, I probably wouldn't recommend this for a photo printer. In my opinion, this is really a document printer which you can use occasionally to print images and make a quick copy. If you're a stickler for photo quality, buy something else. I do find this machine sometimes makes noise when I'm not using it. I'll be quietly working at my desk, typing or something, and suddenly I hear a grinding noise. Startled, I look over to the display and see that it is doing some self-cleaning. I also notice the printer On/Off works strangely sometimes. I can sit at my desk for the longest never using the printer and it's still lit up, but other times it's all dark. It usually comes on automatically when I send a document, but sometimes I have to press the On/Off button. I was spending a lot of money purchasing the high capacity ink cartridges from Office Depot. I found a "compatible" supplier on the internet where I could get 12 for the price of one brand name. I did find that some photo colors don't look quite as good, but other than that, the compatible cartridges save a lot of money. Speaking of ink cartridges, whether using the brand name cartridges or compatible ones, I noticed that my family and friends who use printers like Lexmark go through a lot more ink than I do, even though I do a lot more work than them. It is missing a manual feeder. Using the tray for envelopes can be a pain. I prefer to print labels and stick them on the envelopes. It also does not have duplex features, but since this is the only color inkjet multifunction that prints tabloid, it's a matter of which feature is more important to you. The ability to print tabloid size was paramount in my decision to purchase this printer. My printer did include the USB cable and free ink cartridges. Overall, I am quite pleased and feel I made a good choice for my home office printer.

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Cons - Very difficult to set up properly. You will most likely have to call their help desk to get it done unless you are lucky with the initial setup, or you are above average on computer knowledge. Pros… - Once the setup was completed properly, the printer worked well & is worth the price for what I need it for. Print quality is excellent, both black & white & color. It has 2 trays for 2 different size paper, which is a great feature. Bottom Line - If your looking for a Multifunction Printer that can handle the larger 11 x 17 paper, this one will fit the bill.

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