
- Print, copy, scan and fax up to 11" x 17" (ledger-size) for high impact business applications
- Save paper with duplex printing at 8.5" x 11"
- TouchScreen 4.2" color LCD display - easy to use and interactive
- Flexible wireless (802.11b/g), wired (Ethernet) network connection and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interfaces
- Dual paper trays provide total capacity of 350 sheets

This is a large printer with lots of features that work well. I set this up on the wireless function to operate with my Mac. It only took one setup and I''ve experienced no problems with the range, which I did experience on my HP initially. Sending documents to print is a fast and easy task. It has an easy to use and good looking large touchscreen to take you through each menu. This is great and time saving when compared with other printers. Having the ability to print ledger photos without going to a printer store is fantastic and I used it to make several posters for our portfolio.
Now to the caveat, big or small depending on your needs. The print quality is not nearly as good as the HP. It''s comparable to other brands, very similar to what Lexmark puts out, but could not compare in color quality to my HP. Yesterday, I needed to print out a color chart for our business products and I did a couple on the normal settings on my HP. Then my ink got low so I switched over to the Brother to make a couple on there. I decided to put it on the best quality settings because I wanted the colors to be very vibrant. It takes a good bit of time to print on the high quality setting so I was expecting a lot and was very disappointed when it was finished. The colors looked washed out or a bit faded when held side by side to what I had just printed on the HP and took 3 times as long to print. I took it without saying which was which and showed it to my husband who pointed to the HP document and said that it was so much better and that there was no comparison. As far as my color chart, the HP was very usable and the Brother not at all. To be fair, the Brother has settings for its color printer that you can manually enter. I''m just not adept enough to do that, to know which settings to set the colors on. But as far as default printing, you won''t get top quality photo printing, you will get adequate printing. So, the bottom line is if you need high quality color printing, then this might not be the right printer for you. But if you are an occasional photo printer or primarily use it for office or business documents where vibrant color quality is not required, then this is a great, easy to use multi-function printer and you should give it a try.
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After using this printer''s predecessor (MFC-6490CW) for over a year, I can offer the following:
My requirements are very specific. I need ledger-size (11x17) scanning and printing...period. Just try to find an AIO at this price that will do that (unless you want to pay $600+?) Most of my documents are B&W, some with a small amount of color highlighting, and this printer works flawlessly for that purpose.
For color photos, make sure you use photo paper or the color is so washed out even at the custom maxed-out settings that I don''t bother printing photos on plain paper.
The automatic document feeder, ADF, is somewhat flakey and skews the paper a bit too much for my finiky demands so I just limit myself to using the glass-top surface for most scanning.
I love the scan-to-file feature that doesn''t require input from the PC and allows several file formats as the default, including PDF. If you are not picky about the document skewing of the ADF, this printer will scan a stack of originals and place the entire set into a single multi-page PDF file if you desire.
This printer uses replaceable ink "tanks" instead of ink/head cartridges and this makes it much easier to manage and refill if you choose. The printer asks if you have installed a new tank and then takes your word for it, unlike the HP I used previously that insisted on reporting an out-of-ink condition even after refilling. Since this printer''s tanks have no electronics inside, there is no serial number to read and no way for the software to know if you have inserted an old cartridge.
I noticed over the last year that the user manual is somewhat incomplete and confusing/contradictory. Some features that were described in the manual did not function and some functions referenced on their web site were not properly described in the manual.
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After owning and reviewing both the excellent Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Inkjet Printer and the almost as-good Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One Photo Printer, Brother has to make an airtight case against Canon when they''re looking to get twice as much money out of your wallet.
Unless printing on 11 x 17" (ledger) paper is a make-or-break need, Brother doesn''t make a very good case against the less expensive Canon offerings.
Of course, this is Brother''s flagship inkjet AIO offering, so they''ve thrown in a gimmicky touchscreen. Sure, it''s kind of cool, but it doesn''t really help accomplish much beyond jacking up the price. Is it missing from other AIO printers? Sure. Does it add any value? No.
Setting the printer up on MacOS X was quite painless, making for an unexpected treat. Setting the printer up in Windows was also simple, as expected. Wireless printing worked well all around, with very good range. And Brother''s dual-tray paper handling is something that''s sorely missing from all of Canon''s offerings.
So, why all the Canon talk? Because comparatively speaking, the Brother MFC-6890cdw takes longer to print both text and photos (single sided and duplex), the photo quality isn''t as good, the scanning speed is not as good, the document feeder acts screwy when you''re not using 8.5 x 11" paper, and yet... it costs nearly twice as much.
A natural retort could be "But Brother is targeting small business users", which is normally true, but that simply doesn''t wash when you take consumables in to consideration. Comparing the black ink between Canon and Brother (PGI-220BK vs. LC61BKS), you get rated yields of 350 pages vs. 450 pages. But when you dig a little deeper and compare the cost per page based on the cartridge cost, you end up with 4.6 cents per page on the Canon side and 5.5 cents per page on the Brother side (based on the retail price of both cartridges at a national office supply store). So while it''s true that you''re going through more cartridges on the Canon side, you''re also paying less for them upfront and per page.
So at the end of the day, why would you buy this printer? To be honest, I don''t really know. If you''re heavy in to ledger sized documents, and need the occasional presentation printed, you don''t have many alternatives. But if you don''t need to print larger than 8.5 x 11" on a daily basis, get yourself the Canon Pixma MX860, enjoy the better quality and the hundreds of dollars you''ll save.
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This is my second All-In-One printer that supports wireless printing. Ever since have I used a wireless printer, I became a big fan of it, and I will not buy any printer that is not wireless. It is so convenient to put a printer anywhere and is great to print, scan and fax wirelessly. My first wireless AIO, the Epson Artisan 800 has been working great and I expected more from the Brother MFC-6890CDW which is more expensive than the Epson Artisan 800. In short, the Artisan 800 and the MFC-6890CDW target different markets, and I will tell you why.
First of all, the MFC-6890CDW is a huge printer. Compared with the MFC-6890CDW, Epson AIO looks so cute. Most of my friends who have visited my house thought it was a traditional photo copier. It is that big. The unique feature of the MFC-6890CDW is that it supports a duplex (double-sided) printing. I have never seen an Inkjet printer that does this and it really impressed me. I was expecting a soggy paper from a duplex printing output, however, the output was great. When I compared the printing from the same source on a single-sided and a double sided output, the former was definitely darker. I did it on the same setting, so my guess is that the printer might reduce the amount of ink when it does the duplex printing. This makes perfect sense to me.
When it comes to photo printing, the MFC-6890CDW does the job well. However, the quality of the photo printing is slightly worse than the Artisan 800. And the MFC-6890CDW supports borderless printing on photo paper. The MFC-6890CDW still makes quality photos and is good enough for a business presentation.
The MFC-6890CDW has a 4.2 inch nice color LCD touch screen, however, the pictures shown on the LCD from the USB memory connected to it are not great. The color is washed out and you cannot judge the quality of the original pictures. It has ''Enhance Photo'' feature built-in, however, you might not do the job well using this LCD screen. It is better to have the LCD screen than not, however, the quality of the screen should have been better for a printer with a heavy price tag.
The text printing is very clear and fast if you do not choose the duplex printing. It can prints and scans up to 11'' by 17'' papers. There are not many AIO printers to handle this size of the paper and for some people, this printer would be a definite choice. And it supports Windows and Mac flawlessly.
As far as the wireless feature is concerned, this is a great printer. While I set it up, I did not have to connect the USB cable even once. The wireless setup was very smooth and simple, and I can print, scan and fax wirelessly. The wireless scanning works without any problem and sending a fax wirelessly is cool. It does the job as it is supposed to, and I love it.
Concerning features, it does not have anything fun like the Epson Artisan 800. It does not support printing on a CD/DVD. You cannot make calendars, post cards or coloring books on the printer alone like the Artisan 800. However, it scans the document and saves it to to a memory card with a single touch of the LCD screen.
Overall, this is a very sturdy AIO printer. The duplex printing is fantastic and the wireless capability is awesome. The quality and the speed of the printing are very satisfactory, and I did not have trouble or paper jams so far. But, if you are looking for a feature-rich, fun AIO color printer for your home, the MFC-6890CDW might not be for you. Also, I really liked the printed manual; it is hard to see this kind of a printed manual these days. The MFC-6890CDW does its job best when it is sitting at an office.
This was my second experience with a WiFi printer, and this one worked seamlessly. The printer easily joined my existing network and prints wirelessly without any glitches. Wireless printing for graphic files is understandably slower than USB printing, but the ability to locate the unit away from the computer is worthwhile.
The Brother prints documents fast and with excellent quality. The fax works well, using the document feeder or faxing directly from the computer (in my case, a Mac). One disappointment for me was that there is no interface that allows you to check fax status or fax logs on the computer; you must print out a paper report on the unit for the latter.
The one area where I found this model particularly lacking was in the reproduction of color photos. Most photos were tinted too red, and the quality was not up to par with other photo printers. But since I use other printers for photos, I didn''t see this as a significant shortcoming. This is my day-to-day document printer, and it''s a good one.