Brother MFC-6490CW All-in-One Printer

While the Brother MFC-2490 is a handy all-in-one for a small (or even not-so-small) office, not being able to duplex print is a real drawback. Tech trendsetters may be put off because it doesn't support the newest wireless version, and while most of us should be just fine with the supported versions (b/g), printing takes a bit longer when done wirelessly. And bring your own USB cable, since one doesn't come with the printer.

Got a small office? You'll need one to find space for this behemoth (it can handle jobs up to 11x17), which is roughly the size and weight of a vintage microwave oven. It's plenty modern, though, and offers everything a small office could hope for.

Well, almost everything. The obvious missing feature is duplex printing, a lack that I can't quite understand in an office machine. Duplex printing is becoming all but ubiquitous on even low-end inkjet printers; not only is it handy, but it saves a huge amount of paper.

If you can get past that, then there's a lot to like. It offers some features that are great for offices, such as a few security measures. Administrators can log in using a password that allows them to change the printer's settings. Each user can be given specific types of access to the printer, so not everybody, for example, could use the Photo Capture features.

Like the Brother 7840W, this all-in-one has wireless built in. Even better, it's easy to set up. You just need to know the SSID of your wireless network and the password you use to secure your router (you do use a password for security, right?). The printer found my network right away and was printing wirelessly within minutes.

Photos and documents look great, though they take some time coming out depending on how you're connected. I printed a huge PDF file wirelessly, and the first page took more than 40 seconds to emerge, with subsequent pages coming out in less than half that time. When printing while connected via USB, the first page took only 26 seconds and then about 13 seconds per page afterwards.