Brother MFC-6490CW Reviews: Brother All-in-one Colour Inkjet Printer

+ Generally we have found the Brother MFC-6490CW to be a reasonably good all-round machine, which meets our general day-to-day need.

- When the Brother MFC-6490CW has been in hibernation for a long-time, sometimes the printer will not auto start and the Power Save button needs to be pressed.

+ reliable and easy to use

- Not compatable with a server / network usage.

+ Economical on ink, easy to use, software works well, professional quality printing. Backup superb.

- Can,t think of any.

+ all in one, a3

- 3 weeks old needed new printer head,12months old same problem,very large machine for office

+ THE MACHINE IS COMPACT & SMART LOOKING. IT IS VIRTUALLY SILENT. VERY EASY TO SET UP. ALL FEATURES EASY TO USE. INK USAGE VERY GOOD. PRINT QUALITY EXCEPTIONAL. WORKS WITH WINDOWS XP, VISTA & WINDOWS 7.

- IT DOES NOT MAKE COFFEE.

+ A3 capability.
Not too expensive to run.
Easy to use.
Does not Jam!

- Just about not too big!

+ Reviewer left no comment

- when cleaning the heads it takes a long time

+ Reviewer left no comment

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+ printing qty , easy funtions

- down loading and then making it wireless

+ A3 inkjet scanner / printer wthout teh usual A3 price. have found no faults with it so far

- No as fast as some inkjet printers. But unless you are in a rush that dows not matter

+ Very good value for money A3 printer. Good general printing and copying. I cannot fault the black and white printing at A3 which is principally what I purchased it for.

- Colour printing does not produce such a good colour range as my Canon 630 photo printer

+ PC and Maccompatible
Remote wake-up from stabdby state
Image quality on plain paper

- Changing print and paper quality
Paper trays disturbingly flimsy

+ Reviewer left no comment

- uses more ink than what we were told

+ I am pleased with the printer and it is doing the job I purchased it for well.

- Even after reading the manual I am still confused on which paper tray to use, may be if you put an educational cd in the package it helps better than a half inch thick book

+ Multifunction seamless, print quality good, A3 very useful, fax works well. Scanning and document feeder excellent. Power saving excellent.

- No duplex option even as a purchased add on. PC menu is not entirely intuitive.

+ Works well with all Computers and Network
A3 Print and Scan
Speed is good
Scan to file

- Non automatic detection of A3 paper supply
non A3 Scan to file from the machine or still Not worked it out
wirless and LAN Wirkung at Same Time

+ Uniqueness - it's the only sensibly-priced A3 MFD. (That's the be-all and end-all. )
Low-ink display gives details of just HOW low each one is, not a bland statement "low".
Seperate ink cartridges.

- Undersells network features.
There's no "windows 7 and my Brother" guide that I'm aware of (as in "if you go from Vista/XP to Win7 this is what you will see ...... and this is what you need to do ......." . Hint: do a "beginner" and an "advanced" version?

+ once you have found out all the little things that this m/c can do very very good

- if any off the 4 cartrdges runs out it will not print it would be an advantage if you could just print black
for letters etc

+ It is relatively competitively priced, and comes with a good amount of it. The good features is that obviously it can print on A3, and it scans at a fast rate with very good image fidelity.

- The ink is expensive to replace. The print quality is washed out and not very sharp, and it very slow. The printer itself is large, unwieldy and not very attractive, and to make it worse the wi-fi is so difficult to work that I have given up and it has to remain in the study instead of a back room. Dont get me wrong it is a brilliant printer in terms of function, but there just seems to be a poor quality or manufacture.

+ Great for scanning documents, replacement inks not too expensive. A3 compatibility and not overly large machine. Good purchase price for facilities incorporated.

- Print quality not too great, but compared to my other colour laser printer which cost considerably more.

+ Excellent print quality and speed. Easy to use.

- Saving scans to file, needs ability to do so in pdf format

+ Price and speed of printer is good also replacment ink is very good value and I will be happy to buy brother ink not any cheap copies.

- Print quality could be improved - But I would still buy the same printer again.

+ good all round

- printing glossy can be a bit slow but print quality exelante

+ Print speed an low noise. A3 copy and scan.

- The only fax that I have used whereby the document doesn't go face down
apart from that excellent machine.

+ A3 capability

- Print quality not as good as I had hoped having previously used laser printer.
Text not as sharp as I had expected
Colour very dull even on 'vivid' setting

+ BRILLIANT TO HANDLE A3 PAPER COPIES PRINTOUT ETC - COULD NOT COMPLETE MY COLLEGE WORL WITHOUT IT

- SIZE

+
compact for my office, fast

-
ink expensive

+ Good to be able to print in A3, cost of printing and individual cartridges

- Looses connection at times on Wi-Fi

+ I bought it for the A3 capability and the wifi for use in a small office setting.

- The paper tray feels flimsy, particularly if you need to change to A3 paper.

+ Its quite fast and extremely user friendly. The print cardridges are extremely easy to install.

- The print quality isn't as good as my last printer which was an HP. Also, there is no external paperfeed for individual copies so you have to pull the papertray out everytime you want to print on different paper.

+ I have had no trouble with the printer at all. I have very little trouble connecting wirless. My last printer gave a lot of trouble connecting wirless, and in many cases did not bother printing on my home printer but waited till I went to work. I use the printer a lot for drawings. The A3 printing capability is excellent.

- I have not come across any bad point yet. only possible downside is cost of printing cartridges.

+ A3 printing. Easy to set up wireless

- Paper jams frequently

+ Good quality prints in very reasonable times, excellent A3 scanner which is the main reason for purchase, multi containers of ink very good only using what you need, so far prices for re-newals of ink not too bad and the useage seems to be far better than my previous HP printer

- poor manual for printing photographs, does not like certain well known paper, tends to try to put through too many pages at once

+ The good points are that I have always found a brother reliable, I have three different brother printers now all for doing different work.
But great value for money for an A3 printer/Scanner

- The only negative point I would say is that the feeder trays could be a little firmer stronger, plastic they are a little bit flimsy. So you have to be a little careful, and I hope if we ever needed it we would be able to get replacements

+ Is the A3 size and the software.

- The colours aren't that vivid and there is no duplex facility which I use quite often

+ Good product for the price

- Printing and copying is very slow. I wish the pages did not come out in reverse order (even faxes)

+ Has A3 print capability, wi-fi link

- Doesn't always work that well with a Mac

+ Versatile, fast, good paper handling features

- The software interface (Control Centre 3) could be better (more features etc.) given the performance and capabilities of the printer. I feel that the software lets the printer down.in this regard.

+ Compact size, features, design

- Tricky wireless setup

+ This mfc is ideal for my one-man architectural practice in that most of my drawings are created at A3 size and can be easily copied in-house.
It may not be the fastest printer but it is suitable for my particular needs.
I note from other suppliers that the cost has dropped somewhat recently - however this is a good point and I would certainly recommend this unit to my friends.

- None discovered so far.

+ Clear crisp pictures - A4 scanning to file

- Setting up for A3 scanning to file.

+ A3 printing option

- waiting for 1 fax to go before you can fax the next

+ Great print quality, easy to set up

- none that I can think of

+ Compact,Light weight & easy to use. cartridge relacement fairly cheap compared to other brands.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ compact size

- A3 feed doesn't always pick up paper

+ A3 scanning & printing

- slow

+ Overall a very good A3 printer for home use and great value for the money.

- Not found any really.

+ perfect for my CAD operation

- would prefer scan to pdf
multiple copies can get tangled up if left unattended.

+ Exceptional value for money and flexibility from wireless printer/scanner/copier. Easy screen menu on machine and good pc interface. Easy to follow instruction and prompts, great for novice and more experienced user. Have already recommended to others. Great for geneal home user and sme's, but exceptionally good for cratfers wishing to scan their artwork, print and reproduce to a high standard.

- Hardly qualifies as a bad point, but fax not really necessary these days.

+ A good all round performing machine - easy to set-up - reasonably economic with ink usage and if you can put up with a slight reduction of print quality an extremely fast bulk print troughput.

- Scanning quality, although excellent when new, now 8 months use scanning quality has reduced quite dramatically.

+ A very compact and versatile machine

- Somewhat slow in copying. Cartridges are expensive.

+ easy to use, seperate inks (colour), tells you when there is not enough ink and will not print until more is input. small compact

- would like bigger cartridges black.
would be better if it could do duplex A4

+ 2 trays so it can be loaded with plain and headed paper

- I assumed 2 trays meant it could handle duplex printing. The ink cartridges don't last very long. It's difficult to feed labels and envelopes as they jam too often. The colour isn't very true. It takes too long to be ready to copy the next page.

+ very good every thing that i need in a A3 printer.

- a bit noisy and a touch slow however the end result is very good.

+ A 3 Printing at an affordable price.
Easy to scan to different PCs

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Very pleased getting an affordable A3 printer. The wireless technology works as it should - a dream. The scanning of A3 sheets stacked in the hopper worked extremely well and transmitted the scans to the computer in double-quick time.

- One fustration was not being able to print A3 Photograghs from the lower tray2 even though the tray normally takes A3 paper. The manual was not clear on the reason and was quite confusing in it's explanation to use tray1 extended.

+ A3 capability very usefull. An all round excellent printer!!

- Very few!. Didn't think the photo printing was any better than a number of ther standard printers

+ compacted, multifunctions scanner, photocopier and printer idea for office the house

- the ink cleaning process can be slow when you want to print

+ its multifunctional

- it keeps defaulting to offline

+ quality, reliability, ease of use

- Cost and avalability of ink cartridges in my local area

+ Can't fault it......it does exactly what I want, no complaints whatsoever!

- Inks; bit on the expensive side

+ A3 printing at a reasonable price

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Excellent for printing documents and photographs. Simple instructions on LED screen for using each application. Very economical ink use even for photographic prints. Very intuitive range of controls.

- Automatic paper tray selector always selects tray #1, so I always manually select. Otherwise is proving to be a perfect machine.

+ Nice price, good software.

- Tray paper assignments, locking trays to be only A4 or A3 not "Any" and allowing the priner driver to do the work.

+ excellent all-rounder machine with pretty good print & speed quality in all areas, easy to setup and connected to office network with ease.
to have A3 copy, fax and scan facility in a compact, very well priced machine puts many larger expensive machines to shame.

- the "print fast" quality could be improved, its purpose to produce fast printing to save ink and time when necessary fails as its really not very good at all, very feint prints, otherwise quality is fine.
only other niggle is that when using the "quick dial" on the fax function, the display shows only the number calling and not the name, so unless you have a great memory for telephone numbers, its not much use in showing if you have dialled the correct number.
these points could easily be improved making it a "must have" machine.

+ Simple, intuitive control system. Easy to achieve the most frequently undertaken tasks, without extensive sub-menu's, one button operation, with appropriately grouped options. Colour rendition perfectly adequate for most tasks, I haven't yet explored the colour tweak settings!

- Speed on a multiple simple B&W copy task is a trifle lengthy, and the quality verges to grey if you switch to the 'fast' or draft setting, which is dissapointing but not catastrophic.

+ quick and easy to install

- problems setting up on wireless network

+ Scanner: good quality scanning for home or business use. The automatic document feed makes scanning multiple pages excellent. The Paperport software is very useful. The Printer offers reasonable quality; text is crisp and the contrast is good. On large blocks of solid colour, banding is evident. The LCD screen is clear and the menu structure easy to follow. Photocopying without a computer is a real boon - particularly when coupled with the automatic document feed for scanning

- I have had difficulty setting this up on a network - setting up the printer was not problematic, but for scanning I have had to resort to a direct USB connection.

+ Easy to switch from A4 to A3

- I have had printers that give better quality when printing photographs.

+ does what was promised

- Reviewer left no comment

+ So far only use the copier. Does what it says on the tin.Good print quality

- Very slow especially when printing colour.

+ plug and play hassle free printing

- Unable to make the default print mode as "print in reverse order"

+ For the money it's an excellent machine given the ability to work with A3 material in a multi-function format. I like the way it handles faxes by scanning in first and releasing the paper for filing or post; then dialling. It has a good footprint and is relatively easy to use.

- The print colours are a little disappointing on normal paper and manage to look washed out. Photo paper appears much better but not up to the mark of a good photo printer. When initially changing to use A3 paper I find I have to set up which tray to use as the machine does not seem to automatically recognise any changes.

+ Excellent printer for the money. Great scanning and print quality. Have printed photos and these come out much better than on my old Epson 6 ink printer. Inks good value to buy.
Always ready to print and no need to turn off and on. Once its plugged in, that's it. In standby all the lights go off until you hit print!

- It's big and heavy - but then again it is an A3 printer and scanner so it can't be much smaller.
You can't get Brother 5 x 7 photo paper only 6 x 4, A4 or A3

+ scan A3 and smaller and print

- no duplex
no orto sorting of paper size

+ Compact and able to scan A£

- Tray selection you have to keep programme the A3 tray

+ compact, well priced, very easy to use, perfect for a small business

- printing speed is a little slow

+ It prints and scans and copies in A3 which is fab for what I need it for. I also like the way that it has two trays, reducing the need to keep filling it up with different sizes of paper.

- It doesn't print 12 x 12 (which a lot of A3 printers can and do).
It doesn't always feed paper very well - occasionally takes through 3 or 4 sheets together from top tray.
If it is low on ink, a reminder keeps popping up on screen which is frustrating and disruptive to my work.

+ Haven't used the fax facility yet but scanning, printing and copying are all good quality. Very economical use of ink. Ability to take A3 paper was important and it works well - and the printer's footprint is not much bigger than the previous A4 only "All In One" machine we used to use. Machine is quiet - apart from some of the beeps! Low power usage. Quick to reach ready state from power off/standby. Reasonably intuitive with easy to follw on-screen instructions. Definitely recommend it.

- None that come to mind - except for the sometimes noisy beeps.

+ Excellent value for an A3 printer, which has saved us a lot of time and money as we no longer need to take plans to our local print shop for copying.

- Does use ink quite quickly.

+ A3 printing, high yeild black cart

- Times out on wireless, no doublesided printing

+ I have set up an independent structural consulting practice and the machine has been working very hard since it was purchased. The ease of creating pdf documents from hand sketches, especially at A3 format and in colour, has been excellent and it has paid for itself already. The ADF works reasonably well for smaller documents and the option to replace individual ink colours is excellent. The ink dries very quickly making handling documents immediately after printing very easy.

- The black printing is sometimes too grey - espcecially for drawings with fine linework. The A3 paper sometimes jams in the machine, though only 3 occurences in 4 months of use.

+ Easy to install and setup. I am only using WiFi connection accessing from hard wired PC (to the router) and from laptop. Really like the interface, as everything is at the press of a button. Took a few mins to sort out the A3 and A4 trays but once sussed, works a treat :-)

- Not found any yet, although I am waiting to see how long the ink lasts! (already had it for a 2 months and still running)

+ Reviewer left no comment

- Colour print is lighter than previous HP not as deep in colour

+ ??

- The ink colours are not good. Somewhat pasty. HP is much better quality. The printer is noisy when setting up. I have used 15 cartridges since the printer was first set up. I cannot use the fax facility because it generates interfearance with the telephone. Overall not impressed am looking to replace it with a HP printer.