[itguy05]

Now that me and the wife are laptop users and I'm going to be selling my iMac soon, I'm looking at networking our printer (an i560) and possibly scanner. While at Staples the other day, I ran across the Brother MFC-5440cn which looks very good - network scanner, printer, and FAX with EXCELLENT Mac support.... Did a couple test copies at the store and the output looked good, maybe a tad worse than my i560 with generic inks.

Looking at reviews, it seems like it's a decent little machine, but I'm curious if anyone has experience with Brother inkjets and how they compare to, say Canon or Epson.

Love the network scanning and printing built in, and at $129, not a bad deal at all. And Brother has very good Mac support. However, I don't want to step down from the quality of my i560.

And consolidating my Epson Perfection Scanner + i560 seems like a great idea!

[bowwowman]

I bought one of these for my cousin a while back. I tried it out for a few weeks before giving it to her, and found it to be an excellent machine in all respects...

I used with my mac as well as an old W98 peecee without any problems whatsoever. Didnt even have to load the mac drivers, just plug & play as usual The peecee of course was a little finicky, but not that bad in the end.

[itguy05]

Thanks!

I picked the unit up last night at Staples and so far, it's printing good. Slightly better than my i560 with generic inks. And probably a notch below the i560 with Canon inks.

Seems to be a tad slower, although it could be the crummy CUPS drivers. I've found that CUPS drivers have not been the speediest to print, though.

Scanning works perfectly and it's pretty cool to load the paper and select my Powerbook.

Copying also works great with the ADF.

So far, seems to be a keeper. 13 more days to decide.

[nationwide]

hey keep me posted on how well your printer works, i'm also considering brother all-in-one printers.

Originally Posted by itguy05

Thanks!

I picked the unit up last night at Staples and so far, it's printing good. Slightly better than my i560 with generic inks. And probably a notch below the i560 with Canon inks.

Seems to be a tad slower, although it could be the crummy CUPS drivers. I've found that CUPS drivers have not been the speediest to print, though.

Scanning works perfectly and it's pretty cool to load the paper and select my Powerbook.

Copying also works great with the ADF.

So far, seems to be a keeper. 13 more days to decide.

[itguy05]

I ended up keeping it. It's working great with all the Macs (imac, Powerbook and iBook) and my Windows notebook.

Can't say enough good things about it and at the current price of $99 it's a STEAL

[nationwide]

Just wondering how you had your network setup with all your computers, i know you can share the printer, but how does it work with the scanning? Does it scan to one particular computer or are you able to choose between computers or are you not able to scan to a computer when you have your 5440 set up on a network. i've got 3 computers here myself, 1 desktop and 2 laptops, thanks

Originally Posted by itguy05

I ended up keeping it. It's working great with all the Macs (imac, Powerbook and iBook) and my Windows notebook.

Can't say enough good things about it and at the current price of $99 it's a STEAL

[cleanup]

I have a 5440 CN. It worked once with my iMac. Networking is terrible, the drivers are terrible. You have to install about 3 programs/drivers on a computer just to get it to network properly with the printer. The printing quality is mediocre. It does serve will as a fax machine though, but then again, so would your Mac.

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by nationwide

Just wondering how you had your network setup with all your computers, i know you can share the printer, but how does it work with the scanning? Does it scan to one particular computer or are you able to choose between computers or are you not able to scan to a computer when you have your 5440 set up on a network. i've got 3 computers here myself, 1 desktop and 2 laptops, thanks

My home network is like this:

D-Link Cable Modem -> D-Link DI-614 wireless router -> Vonage, Linux Box, -> Linksys 4 port hub upstairs.

From the Linksys I have my iMac and MFC-5440CN plugged in there and configured with a static IP.

All other computers (iBook, PowerBook) go wirelessly.

When you want to scan, you walk over the MFC, hit scan, select to file, picture, etc. Then you get a prompt on what computer to scan to - you can pick the name. Then you just press start and it goes to that computer. The only thing is, obviously, that computer has to be on.

It is also setup on my work IBM WinXP machine where it works flawlessly as well.

I have a 5440 CN. It worked once with my iMac. Networking is terrible, the drivers are terrible. You have to install about 3 programs/drivers on a computer just to get it to network properly with the printer. The printing quality is mediocre.

Yes, you need the 3 programs to scan - the status monitor, control panel, and IIRC the TWAIN stuff. But it's no different than most scanners.

The drivers could use a little polishing (I dislike the CUPS print drivers as a rule - they are horribly slow). But they work and are relatively reliable. Brother actually supports all the functions on the Mac, something other MFC manufacturers could learn from.

Networking has not been an issue - I use a hardcoded IP instead of DHCP as they tend to be more reliable.

Print quality is quite good, provided you use a good quality inkjet paper. But that was the case with all my previous inkjets. Use junk paper, get junk results.

All in all, it's a great little machine for a great price. As long as it lasts me a year or 2, I'll have gotten my money's worth. Then I can move on to the Epson color laser MFC!

[nationwide]

thanks for the update, as i am fairly new to setting up a network printer, so i may ask questions from time to time til i get the hang of setting up a network. so bare with me if i ask alot of questions. after getting a G5 powermac back in may, i was able to save up enough bones to spring for a new ibook. i want to get rid of the printer and scanner and get an all in one. as of right now everything is plugged into the G5 but i want the ibook to have access to the printer and scanner(my future all in one) as well. my first question is would i have to get all the accessories that you have listed below? and if not what accessories would i need? i see where you have D-Link Cable Modem -> D-Link DI-614 wireless router -> Vonage, Linux Box, -> Linksys 4 port hub upstairs, and i wasn't sure i would need all of these. thanks

Originally Posted by itguy05

My home network is like this:

D-Link Cable Modem -> D-Link DI-614 wireless router -> Vonage, Linux Box, -> Linksys 4 port hub upstairs.

From the Linksys I have my iMac and MFC-5440CN plugged in there and configured with a static IP.

All other computers (iBook, PowerBook) go wirelessly.

When you want to scan, you walk over the MFC, hit scan, select to file, picture, etc. Then you get a prompt on what computer to scan to - you can pick the name. Then you just press start and it goes to that computer. The only thing is, obviously, that computer has to be on.

It is also setup on my work IBM WinXP machine where it works flawlessly as well.



Yes, you need the 3 programs to scan - the status monitor, control panel, and IIRC the TWAIN stuff. But it's no different than most scanners.

The drivers could use a little polishing (I dislike the CUPS print drivers as a rule - they are horribly slow). But they work and are relatively reliable. Brother actually supports all the functions on the Mac, something other MFC manufacturers could learn from.

Networking has not been an issue - I use a hardcoded IP instead of DHCP as they tend to be more reliable.

Print quality is quite good, provided you use a good quality inkjet paper. But that was the case with all my previous inkjets. Use junk paper, get junk results.

All in all, it's a great little machine for a great price. As long as it lasts me a year or 2, I'll have gotten my money's worth. Then I can move on to the Epson color laser MFC!

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by nationwide

thanks for the update, as i am fairly new to setting up a network printer, so i may ask questions from time to time til i get the hang of setting up a network. so bare with me if i ask alot of questions. after getting a G5 powermac back in may, i was able to save up enough bones to spring for a new ibook. i want to get rid of the printer and scanner and get an all in one. as of right now everything is plugged into the G5 but i want the ibook to have access to the printer and scanner(my future all in one) as well. my first question is would i have to get all the accessories that you have listed below? and if not what accessories would i need? i see where you have D-Link Cable Modem -> D-Link DI-614 wireless router -> Vonage, Linux Box, -> Linksys 4 port hub upstairs, and i wasn't sure i would need all of these. thanks

No problem - I know it can be a lot to swallow all at once.

All you really need is a wireless router (or access point) with a 4 port or so switch. That way you can share your Internet connection and have a place to plug the Brother unit into as well as your G5 Powermac. While the Brother can be wirelessly hooked up, that's a $250 option from Brother.

All you'll need to do is:
Cable/DSL modem -> W. Router -> Powermac -> Brother

Then set the Brother up with an IP address and install the SW on your Macs.

It is that simple.

Hope that helps and if you have any more questions, just ask!

[nationwide]

thanks alot, i think i'm going to up the 100 bones and get one, although i don't have a wireless router as of yet, i'll be getting one really soon. your last thread made it more simple for me to understand knowing the basics needed for setting up a printer on a network. i was wondering would i be able to just set up a home network without having a cable or dsl, but just use the wireless router to setup the network just sharing my printer and my computers? thanks a million.

Originally Posted by itguy05

No problem - I know it can be a lot to swallow all at once.

All you really need is a wireless router (or access point) with a 4 port or so switch. That way you can share your Internet connection and have a place to plug the Brother unit into as well as your G5 Powermac. While the Brother can be wirelessly hooked up, that's a $250 option from Brother.

All you'll need to do is:
Cable/DSL modem -> W. Router -> Powermac -> Brother

Then set the Brother up with an IP address and install the SW on your Macs.

It is that simple.

Hope that helps and if you have any more questions, just ask!

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by nationwide

thanks alot, i think i'm going to up the 100 bones and get one, although i don't have a wireless router as of yet, i'll be getting one really soon. your last thread made it more simple for me to understand knowing the basics needed for setting up a printer on a network. i was wondering would i be able to just set up a home network without having a cable or dsl, but just use the wireless router to setup the network just sharing my printer and my computers? thanks a million.

No problem. Yes, you can use a wireless router without cable or DSL. All you will do is set it up and not configure the WAN/Internet side. It will still function perfectly fine.

[skingjack]

Itguy05,

When you use the scan to file function, what options are you provided? I'm looking for the files to be outputted to PDF format ( for document archival). Is this possible... the manual doesn't indicate if this iks possible.

TIA,
Skingjack

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by skingjack

Itguy05,

When you use the scan to file function, what options are you provided? I'm looking for the files to be outputted to PDF format ( for document archival). Is this possible... the manual doesn't indicate if this iks possible.

Yes - click the Brother Status thing in the menubar, pick Open. Pick Configuration, Scan, File.

In there, you can select the software or hardware button (so you can have the scan button on the device do PDF and the software do TIFF or whatever).

Under File type, pick PDF (last option).

Hope that helps!

[skingjack]

ITguy05,

Thanks for the prompt response... this machine appears to have what I need
for the intended application ( archiving-not too concerned about photo print quality
... have a decent Canon printer for that).

Again, thanks!

Skingjack

[skingjack]

ITGUY05,

One more question comes to mind... the process you describe for creating pdfs.. .do you have to use the machine menu item for each individual page scanned or will the settings apply to all documents that you scan via the auto document feeder?

Thanks,

Skingjack