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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Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Color Inkjet Wireless All-in-One Printer.
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