MFC-8890DW

[ExistNY]

Hi All,

I am interested in buying a multifunction laser printer. I am not concerned with color printing. I just want something that's speedy, has an ADF, can duplex (print and scan) and costs under $500. Wireless and networking is preferable, as I on occasion may want to print from a laptop, but most of my work will be done from a desktop.

I saw that Brother released an update to the 8860DN -- the new 8890DW. It's $440 on ProVantage, which is a big chunk of change. I can't find any reviews for it. Does anyone have any idea? Has anyone bought it, or any other brother multifunction in the same class? Can anyone recommend a multifunction at a similar (or better price point) with the features of the 8890DW (fast laser, ADF, duplex printing and scanning, networking)?

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[cebus]

The 8890 just hit distribution in the last few days, which is why there are no reviews yet. I have one arriving tomorrow, but I probably won't have much to report until I've used it for a while.

The earlier Brother MFC models have generally gotten better reviews (Amazon, CNET, etc) than comparable competitors (HP, Canon, Sharp, etc.)

A couple of things to be aware of when comparing multi-functions:

Many list "duplexing" as a feature, but if you read the details, the only function that is duplex is printing. The ADF may not be duplexing. The 8890DW does have a duplexing ADF.

The other "gotcha" is that many multi-functions will only scan to computers connected by USB--they will not scan over the wired or wireless network connections. The 8890 does scan over a network.

One new feature in the 8890 is the ability to scan to, and print from a USB thumb drive, without a computer. .jpg and .pdf formats are supported for these functions.

We have a Brother color laser multi-function where I work (9840CDW) and it has been pretty reliable. One annoyance is that the black toner cartridges start to leak after a couple thousand pages, leaving black spots on all printed pages. We have returned a couple of cartridges for replacement under warranty.

I owned an earlier model Brother laser multifunction a few years back. It was very reliable, but the copy function didn't make copies quite dark enough (even when set to high contrast). The 9840 does not have this problem, so I'm hoping that the 8890 copies dark enough.

 

[ExistNY]

Thank you for the reply, Cebus. I actually went ahead and ordered it shortly after my post based on the reviews I read for it's older brother, the 8870dw. It arrived earlier today!

I have been playing around with it for the last few hours. The things it can do are pretty amazing. Without knowing a single thing about networking, I managed to get it to print and scan, double-sided, on both my desktop and laptop, without the use of a single wire (aside from the ac plug). With a bit of tweaking, I even managed it to get it to save scans automatically with custom formats. So, for example, I set the "scan to file" option on the device to automatically create a low resolution pdf for easy attachment to work emails. I set "scan to image" to create a highest resolution JPEG to be opened in my image editor. "Scan to OCR" works pretty much flawlessly with standard text. I think operating the scanner straight from the device is the easiest and fastest way to get things to your PC in the format you need them. I found Paperport, which is the included scanning software, a bit awkward and not at all intuitive (i.e., it just doesn't do what I feel it should be doing when I select certain options).

The duplexing feature is outstanding! It can scan from an automatic document feeder both sides of every page, over a wireless network. And to think, I purchased it for under $500. That's just great set of features for the price.

The control center software for setting your printer options seems solid. No obvious bugs, and it works like a charm with Vista x64.

Hope yours arrives soon, and looking forward to reading your first impressions.

 

[ExistNY]

Just wondering if anyone else has had a chance to use and review this printer.

I think the printer knocked out my computer's "sleep" function. It worked pre-8890dw, now doesn't. Anyone have insight on this?

 

[lvrams]

Now that you have had it for a while ,would you say it is still worth the money? So many choices out there hard to tell which machine is best.

 

[garysloft]

Existny,
There are still no reviews for this unit I can find. How is it holding up?
Auto feed for quick easy copying and network printing are key features for me. Please share.
Thanks very much,
Gary
gary@garysloft.com


quotemsg=374573,3,339383]Thank you for the reply, Cebus. I actually went ahead and ordered it shortly after my post based on the reviews I read for it's older brother, the 8870dw. It arrived earlier today!

I have been playing around with it for the last few hours. The things it can do are pretty amazing. Without knowing a single thing about networking, I managed to get it to print and scan, double-sided, on both my desktop and laptop, without the use of a single wire (aside from the ac plug). With a bit of tweaking, I even managed it to get it to save scans automatically with custom formats. So, for example, I set the "scan to file" option on the device to automatically create a low resolution pdf for easy attachment to work emails. I set "scan to image" to create a highest resolution JPEG to be opened in my image editor. "Scan to OCR" works pretty much flawlessly with standard text. I think operating the scanner straight from the device is the easiest and fastest way to get things to your PC in the format you need them. I found Paperport, which is the included scanning software, a bit awkward and not at all intuitive (i.e., it just doesn't do what I feel it should be doing when I select certain options).

The duplexing feature is outstanding! It can scan from an automatic document feeder both sides of every page, over a wireless network. And to think, I purchased it for under $500. That's just great set of features for the price.

The control center software for setting your printer options seems solid. No obvious bugs, and it works like a charm with Vista x64.

Hope yours arrives soon, and looking forward to reading your first impressions.[/quotemsg]

 

[ExistNY]

So far it has done everything I've asked of it. My impressions shared above remain the same.

 

[brentttt]

Thank you for the reply, Cebus. I actually went ahead and ordered it shortly after my post based on the reviews I read for it's older brother, the 8870dw. It arrived earlier today!

I have been playing around with it for the last few hours. The things it can do are pretty amazing. Without knowing a single thing about networking, I managed to get it to print and scan, double-sided, on both my desktop and laptop, without the use of a single wire (aside from the ac plug). With a bit of tweaking, I even managed it to get it to save scans automatically with custom formats. So, for example, I set the "scan to file" option on the device to automatically create a low resolution pdf for easy attachment to work emails. I set "scan to image" to create a highest resolution JPEG to be opened in my image editor. "Scan to OCR" works pretty much flawlessly with standard text. I think operating the scanner straight from the device is the easiest and fastest way to get things to your PC in the format you need them. I found Paperport, which is the included scanning software, a bit awkward and not at all intuitive (i.e., it just doesn't do what I feel it should be doing when I select certain options).

The duplexing feature is outstanding! It can scan from an automatic document feeder both sides of every page, over a wireless network. And to think, I purchased it for under $500. That's just great set of features for the price.

The control center software for setting your printer options seems solid. No obvious bugs, and it works like a charm with Vista x64.

Hope yours arrives soon, and looking forward to reading your first impressions.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Now that you've had it for over a month, what is your take on it?