Brother MFC-5490 CN

287 reviews

Apr, 2024

Positive
usability (131)
performance (85)
price (43)
print quality (38)
design (32)

Negative
durability (13)
paper handling (7)

General overview
Price comparison

alaTest has collected and analyzed 287 reviews of Brother MFC-5490 CN. The average rating for this product is 4.2/5, compared to an average rating of 4.0/5 for other products in the same category for all reviews. Reviews about the design and print quality are generally positive. The price and performance are also mentioned favorably, whereas the paper handling and durability get critical comments.

usability, performance, price, print quality, design

durability, paper handling

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other products in the same category the Brother MFC-5490 CN is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 82/100 = Very good quality.

Review analysis

(Based on 287 reviews)

Expert Reviews

User Reviews

Review Ratings

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Features

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Showing 1 - 21 of 126 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (160)

Consumer review (amazon.co.uk)

Amazon.co.uk review summary for Brother MFC-5490 CN

alaTest has collected and analyzed 10 user reviews of Brother MFC-5490 CN from Amazon.co.uk. The average user rating for this product is 3.6/5, compared to an average user rating of 3.9/5 for other products in the same category on Amazon.co.uk. Reviewers really like the print quality and noise. The performance and price are also mentioned favorably, but there are some mixed comments about the reliability. Some have doubts about the multifunction.

usability, price, performance, noise, print quality

multifunction

70% of the reviews on Amazon.co.uk give this product a positive rating.

Apr, 2024

Consumer review (amazon.com)

Amazon.com review summary for Brother MFC-5490 CN

alaTest has collected and analyzed 1 user review of Brother MFC-5490 CN from Amazon.com. The average user rating for this product is 5.0/5, compared to an average user rating of 3.8/5 for other products in the same category on Amazon.com.

100% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Apr, 2024

Expert review by : Carrie-Ann Skinner (goodgearguide.com.au)

Brother MFC5490CN

The Brother MFC5490CN is a four-ink multifunction printer that offers scanning, printing and copying facilities, as well as a fax functionality, making it ideal for the home office

Good features for a home office

Not suited to photo printing, a bit fiddly to install the ink cartridges

While the Brother MFC5490CN offers a number of different functions, it wasn’t particularly user friendly in terms of set-up or suited to photo printing, so for that reason we can’t recommend this printer for anything other than home office use.

Aug, 2009

Partner Source

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Expert review by : Trusted Reviews (trustedreviews.com)

Brother MFC-5490CN – Inkjet All-in-One Printer

This is an affordable inkjet all-in-one printer from Brother.

Feb, 2011

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Expert review by : Carrie-Ann Skinner (techadvisor.co.uk)

Brother MFC5490CN review

Measuring 440x403x222mm, the Brother MFC5490CN isn't the sleekest looking device we've reviewed, but it does offer a number of different functions. PictBridge connectivity means users can print their digital snaps from the device without the need for a...

Aug, 2009

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

Corrupt firmware under 300 pages printed.

Brother support is useless unless you're one of those people that need to be spoon fed to install software from a CD. If you have any issue with the printer period, you'll be referred to an outside company that you will have to deal with.

Price, prints black and white fast

After less than 300 pages of printing, this printer suddenly has decided even with full ink levels, that it won't print color, and the network configuration page gives me an error 404. I tried downloading the firmware update tool from brother, but...

Jan, 2012

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

Good for the Price

Setup with a ink system for about $25, dirt cheap ink

89 ; Ink is cheap, using OEM or buying cheap generic ink ; dead simple networking ; backlight LCD is very easy to read ; Copy printing is very fast ; setting up the fax is easy ; a good printer if you have less than 10 computers on your network

Photo printing is not that good, but that expected, note i am comparing to a Espon 6 color photo printer so Im a little bias

Nov, 2010

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

Decent

I am liking this printer very much. Especially for $99, I am pleased with the printing speed, dual interface, availability of cheap cartridges, and the fact that several weeks of no printing doesn't clog the cartridges. Coming from a 5 year old All In...

Price, affordable cartridges, both Ethernet and USB, decent printing speed, great scan quality, no catch that I didn't predict / mostly works as I expected

Scanning on the flatbed plus printing is slow. Probably not the best photo-printing printer. Not wireless

May, 2010

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

I heart this printer

Got it off the newegg e-blast for 89 bucks = win. Someone complained about routing a wire 8 inches through a lid that was built to lift up?? Give me a break.. You do that 1 time. It takes 10 seconds. This replaced a dying fax and an aging flatbed...

I've had this set up on a Domain for a week and I love it so far. It was super easy to install and share. The scanning is my favorite feature. It goes through a stack of docs and dumps them into your My docs folder very quickly with plenty of...

Nada so far

Mar, 2010

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

Good Deal

The price of ink MUST be calculated into your purchase. Brother is one of the few that doesn't smart-chip the cartridges. Check online!! I get mine for under $2 each. How can you complain about sucking ink at that price? Brother inkjets us a small...

INEXPENSIVE INK

Fairly large

Sep, 2009

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Consumer review (newegg.com)

DOA - black ink!

A friend of mine has had this same printer for over a year and like me prints in spurts (100 pages one month, none for the next 3 months). He has never once had an issue, prints great just like the day he bought it. It was his feedback and experience...

Great price for a feature packed networked printer. The color printing is excellent quality

The black cartridge that came with it was intermittent printing at best, went to local officemax to buy replacement (figuring cartridge was bad after 7 cleanings & half cartridge worth of ink later). Installed new ink cartridge, now no black printing...

Aug, 2009

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Consumer review (newegg.com)