Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I ordered this printer because Amazon had the best price and I trust Amazon to stand behind what they sell. True to form, the shipment arrived on time and as described.
I hooked it up and Windows 7 immediately recognized the printer and I was up and ready to print. I bought this printer for two reasons: I need a color laser printer, and also need to do light scanning, maybe 60 pages a week. I didn't want to shell out another $500-$750 for a dedicated sheet-fed scanner. This multi-function printer seemed to fill the bill.
I followed the installation instructions, inserted the CD and followed the onscreen directions. Everything installed, or so it seemed. I was able to get the scanner to make exactly one scan, as a bmp. I tried several times, but couldn't get it to work with Acrobat. Acrobat wouldn't recognize the unit no matter what I did. I figured it was just a matter of tweaking a setting here and there, but suddenly the scanner just quit working. I couldn't get anything to recognize it, and even re-installed the software thinking maybe a file was missing, or corrupted. Nope. The final cut was when the printer went into sleep mode, and wouldn't wake up without being switched off and unplugged.
The included software disc comes with several programs, including a free version of Adobe Acrobat 9. However, the installation routine never asks you if you want to install anything individually, it just asks if you want to continue installing the Brother software. I forgot that the unit ships with a free version of Acrobat 9, because I already own it. This damned thing installed its own version of Acrobat 9 over mine without any warning. I had to uninstall their version, reinstall my Adobe download and go find the serial numbers of Acrobat 9 as well as Acrobat 6, the version I upgraded from. Thanks, Brother, but some people actually already own certain programs and it's not an upgrade to use an OEM licensed product over the one they already paid for (and customized - that also pissed me off - I lost the settings and everything else that I'd already set up in Acrobat). The scanner software that comes with the unit is PaperPort, which is a kludge I've had to deal with before, and a couple of other minor league programs not worth mentioning. Scanning software seems to be one area of computing that doesn't really work that well, but I generally scan to directly to Acrobat, bypassing that problem. There was a control panel-type software program that allowed the user to access all the setup screens so one doesn't have to stand in front of the printer for an hour setting it up.
If you really need a multifunction printer, this one might be okay if you get a unit that works and skip the software as much as possible. I know, defective units happen, but it's frustrating to get one nonetheless. Had it not been for the software hassle, I might have asked for an exchange, but the software suite is so bad I just didn't ever want to see the name Brother on anything I own.
I can't say enough good things about Amazon - they immediately took the return, scheduled the pickup and the unit was on its way back to Amazon within 24 hours.
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Brother MFC9460CDN Color Photo Printer with Scanner, Copier & Fax
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