I own a Brother all-in-1, but not this model.

I don't print with it except when I need a color copy - perhaps once a year. I do scan and fax with it.

a) I wish I would have verified whether the non-printing features would work without ink installed. The nag alerts won't stop.

b) Requiring special software to be installed on a PC just to scan an image is crazy. Mine A-in-1 has CF, USB, and SD memory slots, but saving a scanned image isn't possible to them for some reason.

c) Next time, I'll verify Linux support before purchase. That's my new validation criteria since devices that support Linux usually don't require crappy PC installed software.

I've had the 490cw for the last 1.5 years or so. I'm quite happy with it. Original inks were a bit minimized, but I have since bought lc61 ink sets with extra black for around $7 on ebay a couple of times. It was a good purchase for me. Good clean printing, scans and faxes okay, and ink sets are cheap. I've only used it to copy a few things, so no experience to share there.

I do agree with #1 regarding the nags when ink is low. But as cheap as the ink is, I just pop in a new cartridge for the one that's low.