The printer's scanning, copying, and fax features all performed adequately, especially in conjunction with the 50-sheet ADF that can function without a computer connection. Scanning options include routing images to a file folder, e-mail, or an optical character recognition text translator. You also get four customizable buttons on the virtual Control Center that you can program to any preference. As always, we complain about the lack of a hinged scanner lid that makes it much easier to scan thick books and documents. Copying also works as a standalone device--you can set the magnification from 25 percent up to 400 percent of the original size, but the only two options for pagination are two pages on one sheet of paper and four pages on one sheet. The competition usually offers many more, including up to four images on one page, thumbnails, and two-sided prints.
Performance
Just when you thought it couldn't get any slower than the MFC-5890, along comes the MFC-490CW to break the record. The printer suffers the most embarrassing loss in the photo and text speed benchmarks, with .64 photos per minute and 2.99 pages per minute, respectively. Surprisingly, the results aren't terrible for the presentation or color graphics speed tests, and it actually finished printing our 10-page graphics presentation at a higher page per minute than all of the other competitive products in the lineup. The opposing marks are a little atypical, but we suspect the slower print speeds are the fault of the slowly taxing print head under the hood.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Presentation Speed (PPM) | |
Photo Speed (1 Sheet) | |
Color Graphics Speed (PPM) | |
Text Speed (PPM) |
After analyzing the MFC-490CW's outbound prints, we're satisfied to report that the quality of our snapshots, text prints, and full graphic sheets are substantial improvements over Brother's previous models. Once again, we're surprised at these results, since we typically associate more money with better quality (in terms of printers), but in this case, the 490CW presents sharper lines and clearer, more defined letters in the black and color text samples. In addition, the color gamut on our graphics and text prints appears more evenly saturated and exempt from the blotchy color blends and white blocks that ruined the MFC-5890CW.
That being said, we're still not fully satisfied with these photos. We played around with several driver settings, like turning on the "vivid color" and "True2life" color settings, but the results still don't compare with evenly saturated photos produced by the Pixma MX330. The Brother can't seem to handle fine details like creases in clothing or light strands of hair. Finally, much of the 3-inch by 5-inch snapshots aren't as clearly defined as the MX330. In a dollar-to-dollar comparison, we much prefer the Canon's image quality to that of this Brother.
Service and support
Brother backs the MFC-5890CN with a two-year, limited warranty and offers access to its phone support from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific. We usually see one-year warranties bundled with printers, so we're sure buyers will appreciate and use the extra year of support. In addition to the hotline, Brother's online "Ask Us" program offers immediate e-mail replies for troubleshooting, and the company Web site provides more support by way of manuals, FAQs, service center locations, and software downloads.
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What You'll Pay
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