The Brother MFC-490CW promises time-saving and efficient features to increase productivity in a small office or a home network, thanks to its built-in wired and wireless interfaces and automatic document feeder. It is integrated with the best features expected from a multifunction printer, but it is prone to mechanical errors that can affect print quality and speed.
Design
The MFC-490CW printer stands out with its fairly lightweight body that measures 10 inches deep, 18.1 inches tall, and 15.4 inches wide. The glossy and sleek finish of the Brother MFC-490CW makes it look professional, and its crowning glory is the user-friendly control panel with the 3.3-inch colour LCD screen, which can swivel for ease in viewing. The PhotoCapture Centre reveals memory card slots for SD, memory stick, compact flash, and xD-picture cards, and a PictBridge port. Unlike its predecessors, this colour inkjet printer has a faster fax modem (33.6 Kbps).
Advantages
The Brother MFC-490CW has versatile connectivity options including Ethernet LAN, Wi-Fi, and USB interfaces. It is inexpensive and can send speedy colour or B/W faxing within 3 seconds per page. The Brother MFC 490CW is Energy Star-qualified. It is also praised for its wider colour LCD display, direct photo printing capabilities from a USB flash drive, PictBridge-compatible digital camera, and media cards, and is ready for either wired or wireless networks. The 15-sheet automatic document feeder is another time-saving advantage.
Disadvantages
There are problems with the print head and it affects speed. The Brother MFC-490CW is prone to the same mechanical errors that affect its predecessors. Photo quality needs improvement, too. The Brother MFC-490CW relies highly on a PC connection, so some of its features cannot be used as standalone devices.
