PRINTERS
72 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
BROTHER’SMFC-J491DWISan inkjet MFP
primarily aimed at homeoffice use ,sot here’s
Wi-Fi, duplex printing,afax modem, and a
20-sheet automatic documentfeeder for
unattendedfaxes, scans and copies. Asafairly
lowly model, the MFC-J491DWisk eenly
priced. It does withoutatouchscreen, but its
button-controlled menu is straightforward.
Brother appearsto have cut down on the
orange plastic that once protected its ink
cartridges, but it’s yetto introduce physical
keying to prevent you inserting them in the
wrong slot. There’saseven-minutethumb
twiddle while the printer primes its ink
system; you can’t joinawireless network
first, so you can’t use that timeto install
software.During the installation there’s a
360MB downloadof the Brother iPrint&Scan
software utility,but you can deferit.
SLOWAND UNSTEADY
The MFC-J491DWsuffers from the same
clattery paper traywe’ve seen on other
BROTHER
MFC-J491DW
★★★★★
£91•From http://www.printerbase.co. uk
VERDICT
Ifyou’reafteraninkjetMFPforthehome
office,Brother’sMFC-J491DWdoesn’t
quitehitthemark
Brother inkjets, but otherwise it sounds quiet
and refined. In part, that’s downto its modest
print speeds: we timed blacktext at agentle
10.9ppm. This isavery slow printer in colour,
with our graphicstest inching out at just
2.6ppm, and each borderless 6x4in photo
needing more than three-and-a-half minutes.
At 1.8 colour images per minute, duplex
printing was also glacial, but at least it’s
good to have thefeature.
Unfortunately,the MF C-J491DWisn’t
spending the extra time on high print quality.
Black text was perfectly fine,but colour
graphics looked washed out on plain paper,
and photostended to look alittle drab,
although skintones wereawelcome
exception. It’sasimilar storyforphotocopies:
amono printtook 17 seconds and preserved
plenty of detail from the original, whereas a
colour page needed 32 seconds and looked
rather murky. Duplex prints werefainter than
single-sided ones, yet there was stillalittle bit
of image bleed through our thintest paper.
COLOUR BLIND
The MFC-J491DWdoes getashift on when it
comes to scanning. Withaline-of-sight
connectionto our router,itm anagedto
preview an A4 document in just eight
seconds, and capture it at 150dpi in nine
seconds. Scanninga6x4in photoat6 00dpi
took just 19 seconds, andeven at 1,200dpi it
was underaminute.
Again, however,the results weren’t
great. Focus was fine,but our test photo
picked upaslight aqua tint, while the
scanner struggledto preserve differences
among the darkest shades invarious
originals. The end result was adequatefor
archiving, but not upto more creative needs.
Although this MFP has some strengths –
it’s notably easyto use,both directly and
from aPC–i t’s not great, and it’s not helped
by running costsof about 10.3p per A4 page
of text and graphics. The MFC-J491DWjoins
somethingof atrend forhigh black ink costs
of late: the black ink alone accountsfor3.6p
of the above figure.
Foracapable MFP around the £100 mark,
the Canon Pixma TS6250 isamuch better
bet. There’s no automatic documentfeeder,
but it’s bothfaster than the MFC-J491DW
⬆Itm ay be slow and expensiveto run, but at least the MFC-J491DWise asy to use and cheaperto run.
Although this MFP has somestrengths, it’s not great,
and it’s not helpedby runningcostsofabout 10.3p
per A4 page oftextand graphics
