HP COMPAQ CQ42-203AU

The HP Compaq CQ42-203AU is the successor from the previous version of HP Compaq CQ40 and HP Compaq CQ41 notebook range. It has newer design compared with the older model. Yes, newer and ironically cheap-feeling and amazingly boring-look of a black piece of plastic component. The specification is somehow better than the older model of CQ40 and CQ41. It came with a dual core processor, DDR3 Memory and an upgraded version of graphics engine. However, since the notebook was targeted to be on the base line system, it did not come with Operating System. I had to acquire 6 units of this model in order to cater the business need for expansion. Sold off 4 units and keeping the rest for company usage. I had upgraded a few units with additional 2 years warranty due to heavy usage day in day out. Had a unit sent back to HP for repair, and next few hours, it was ready to be collected. This is the best part of HP goods and stuff. They are very good and spectacular when it comes to RMA (Return Merchandise Agreement). Maybe it was the reps at HP. 

The factory given RAM is surely low, and upgrading it to 2GB is a must. Otherwise, you will find this notebook is not much different with those super slow-motion netbook trying to run Windows 7 Ultimate with Kaspersky Anti-Virus installed. The touchpad is among the hideous part of the notebook. It is ugly and horrid in design. Why on earth did they design such a horror palm rest? The touchpad was raised to the same level of the palm rest, which looked like colored brick. Maybe if the color was carbon-grey or red, it might be cool, but black… so not cool. The led-light, which usually indicate whether we had Caps Lock and also the power indicator are so tiny. That goes the same too for the power button. It seemed that HP is trying use small parts to reduce the cost. Cheap plastic, cheap led lights, cheap power button, cheap designing yields this HP Compaq CQ42-203AU. By the way, the notebook itself was not that bad after all. This is the specification of the notebook;

AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Processor P320 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)

1024MB 1333MHz / DDR3 Memory (1024 x 1 pcs)

320GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive

14.0” (1366 x 768) Screen

AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 Graphics

Integrated B/G/N Wireless, USB 2.0 (3), HDMI Port, Card Reader, Webcam

Weight: 2.2kg

Upon first few hours, the notebook managed to run the installed applications smoothly on Windows 7 64bit. After it had finished collecting the necessary updates on the drivers and Direct X, I had put them on the game test. The result was pretty much the same like its older brother, namely the HP CQ40 and HP CQ41. The CQ 42-203AU manages to run these game; Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, StarCraft 2 (very low setting), Fifa 2011, Section 8, Crysis, Halo, Halo 2 and almost all the games near the range. Unfortunately, it cannot play Call of Duty Black Ops, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and astonishingly GTA San Andreas. It left me stumped for explanation. The CQ 42-203 has been put to test on a straight 12 hours gaming mode, at I did perform well. Apart from a few glitch, pause and hang here and there, the notebook is considerably tough a crude. By the way, seriously upgrading the warranty from the default 1 year to 3 years warranty is worthy.
Picture taken from: HP Malaysia

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK 16GB

The new offering by Research In Motion (RIM) codename Blackberry Playbook has arrived the country. It is much awaited locally even in fact the Playbook is not another android based tablet. The overwhelming tablet trend is giving a strong message to RIM, and somehow, they are a little late behind other manufacturers. Despite the lag, RIM finally has released the Blackberry Playbook, using their own new Blackberry OS, which reported will be used to power future Blackberry smartphones too.
The Blackberry Playbook, unlike the Samsung Tab is a tablet that has no support for GSM voice communication, such as the 2G and 3G network. Therefor it is solely a 7” tablet that has limited capability being a stand-alone device unless being connected through its WiFi.  What a bummer! It weigh around half a kg, with TFT capacitive touch screen capable of multi-touch input and auto rotate at 600 x 1024 pixels. The Playbook is offered in three sizes of storage, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The Playbook is also equipped with Bluetooth, a primary and secondary webcams with 5 MP and 3 MP respectively and 1080p HD video playback capability.

Physically, the Playbook 16GB with only 10mm thickness is simple and robust. It is easier to handle, since it is only half a kg, and less prone to slip and slides due to the rubberize material on the outer casing. However, it is widely known that this rubbery material tend to give in and worn in time, making the Playbook the exhausted and tattered look. On the outer side of the screen, are the sensors for swiping inputs, which is very handy and genius. Power button is place at the top of the device near the media control buttons while RIM had placed a pair of speakers on the sides of the screen.

Like the Blackberry Smartphone OS, the provided tablet OS is fast and easy to understand. They are very responsive to the swiping and touch. Synchronizing the Blackberry Playbook and Blackberry hand phones is pretty simple and by doing this, we can use the Playbook for internet browsing which is surely more pleasant and easier to the eye and hands. The Playbook 16GB has a great battery life which is usually more than 6 hours depending on settings and usage scenarios. This is an awesome performance for RIM’s first attempt on the tablet market. The Playbook which is powered by 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and PowerVR SGX540 GPU on TI OMAP 4430 chipset manage to handle multi-tasking duties too. These hardware and Blackberry OS combination proven to be less power-hungry and yet, delivering performance matching to RIM’s Blackberry Torch.

On the other hand, it might be useful of having a Playbook while having a Blackberry smartphones, since they both can cooperate with each other, but it is also kind of extra burden. What’s the use of having the Playbook, when you can do almost anything that Playbook can do with your Blackberry Smart phone? Yes, maybe for that little extra here and there; large display, easier for the hands and eye, larger display,  extra pouch (to keep your Playbook), larger display, extra 0.5kg burden, larger display… oh, a working WiFi!

ALIENWARE M14X

The Alien-company has introduced a new Notebook range, the M14X and M18X.  The M14X which is already available in the local market appeared to gain momentum over their current range of gaming notebook, the M11X and M17X. The M14X is considerably the most powerful 14” notebook, period, is equipped with 14” HD display, the second generation of Intel® Core™ i7 processor and of course the top of the range graphic performance. However, the goodness of having the best of 14” notebook specifications does come with the setback, the weight problem. The starting weight of M14X is around 3.2kg, and that is around 1kg heavier than most 14” notebook.

The M14X is equipped with choices of Intel i5 and i7 Processor.  The Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz is the lowest processor option up to the highest processor range of the i7-2820QM processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.40 GHz. The standard Memory is 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 2GB) and it is upgradeable up to 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 4GB). The M14X is using NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Video card is made standard either with 1.5GB DDR3 or 3.0GB DDR3. Alienware is also banking on their 14” WLED HD LCD of the option 720p display with 1366 x 768 resolutions or 900p display with 1600 x 900 resolutions. These are the offered specification made available for the current M14X;

Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz, Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz, Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz, Intel® Core™ i7-2820QM processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.40 GHz

Operating System

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit, Genuine Windows® 7 Professional SP1 64bit,    Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate SP1 64bit

Memory             

                4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 2GB), 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB), 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM(2x4GB), 6GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB), 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 4GB), 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 2GB)

Video Card

1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology, 3.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology

Display

14" (35.6cm) WLED HD (720p) display (1366X768), 14" (35.6cm) WLED HD+ (900p) display (1600X900)

Hard Drive

                Up to 750GB7 hard drive (7200RPM), Up to 256GB7 Solid State hard drive

Optical Drive

                8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Slot load optical drive

Power

                High Capacity 8-cell Lithium Ion (63whr)

Camera

                2.0 Megapixel HD Video and Picture Camera with dual digital microphones

Wireless

Networking and Wi-Fi Options,  All Intel® Wi-Fi options include Intel® Wireless Display (Wi-Di) technology support.9, Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet NIC (Standard), Intel® Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n 1x2 (Standard, Intel® Advanced-N WiFi Link 6205 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology (Optional)

Bluetooth Option

                Internal Bluetooth® 3.0

Ports, Slots & Chassis

External Chassis Connections, (1x) RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet, (2x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Ports, (1x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Port with PowerShare Technology, (1x) Mini-Display Port, (1x) HDMI 1.4 Audio and Video Output, (1x) VGA Port, (1x) 9-in-1 Media Card Reader, (2x) Audio Out 1/8" Ports, (1x) Audio In / Microphone 1/8" Port (re-stackable for 5.1 audio),  (1x) Security Lock port

System Dimensions

Height: 37.8 mm (1.49 inches), Depth: 258.34 mm (10.17 inches), Width: 337.00 mm (13.27 inches), Starting at Weight3 with 8-cell battery: - 2.92 kg (6.45lbs)

Color Options

                Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish or Nebula Red with Soft Touch Finish

Keyboard

                4-Zone, multi-color RGB, 82 key keyboard with AlienFX lighting controls

Customized Features

                Laser-Engraved Nameplate

 Design wise, the M14X is not much of a different from the older M11X and M15X. Retaining the aggressive and supersonic outlook, the M14X is much closer to the M11x. The LCD cover is pretty much the same with slender alien lines, and so does the keyboard. This is because there is no number pad in M14X and M11X. The other improvement of the M14X is the availability of HDMI 1.4 port in it, and it also compatible with 3-D TV which however requires additional device. The M14X also boasted with better built in 2.1 speaker configuration which is tuned and configured by Klipsch. The battery life is amazingly longer too. The 14X manage to average itself around 2-5 hours of usage, depending on the hardware notebook configuration and the system setting. This is a stupendous feat not previously possible with the already-departed Alienware M15X.
Picture taken from: Dell.com

SAMSUNG OMNIA i900 16GB

There was a time where I had the urgency to get the wife a new Windows Mobile based PDA to replace her horrific Samsung B7320 Omnia pro, a qwerty-key but also a Windows Mobile based PDA. So I had closed a trade-in deal with a chap for her Samsung B7320 Omnia pro for an older but I assumed and thought to be better PDA, the Samsung Omnia i900 16GB. It turned out to be another folly.

The Samsung Omnia i900 basically is a Windows Mobile 6.1 PDA which received quite impressive ratings online. It has 2G and 3G network capabilities, reasonably good 3.2” TFT resistive touchscreen with resolutions of 240 x 400, massive 16GB storage, great 5MP camera (at its period) and almost every goodness of a Windows 6.1 PDA had. Most importantly, Windows 6.1 is good enough for us to use Pocket Islam. The wife also uses the threaded view SMS very much and also the unlimited phone calls and phone books entries. The PDA is light at around 122 g, but a little wide for easy usage and texting while on the move. The used set, we had acquired is also equipped with a portable Garmin Navigator system, which utilized the Omnia i900 built-in GPS. However, locking and detecting location is tremendously slow. It most scenarios, we had already drove half-way before the GPS manage to locked on. I was so amazed on how could this set be reviewed positively. Maybe the Omnia i900 we had was a faulty set.

Next was the touch screen. The displayed keyboard was so small and it we could hardly get the correct keys. And the screen is somehow misaligned and insensitive to the extent that we need to tap twice or more. However, the wife managed to live with that and adapting her fingers with such horrendous touch screen. Maybe it was just me (LOL). The needed application worked ok with the PDA, with nothing to complain. Performance wise, the Samsung Omnia i900 is much faster than its younger brother, the Samsung Omnia 2 i8000. Where did it go wrong? The Samsung Omnia i900 is using only Marvell PXA312 624 MHz processor, while its newer sibling, the Omnia 2 i8000 uses faster and better Samsung S3C6410 800MHz processor, which is also has a dedicated graphics accelerator. Secondly, the Omnia i900 we had had like 16GB of storage, which means bigger load than the newer Omnia 2 i8000 8GB. After a few thoughts, it came to a personal conclusion that, Samsung might have been trying to improve some of the shortcomings of their Omnia i900 in their Omnia 2 i8000. Yes, they managed to do that. Better touch screen, better resolutions, faster GPS… but at they missed on other places which previously they did ok.

Battery life is short with Omnia i900. So did our hope of getting it fixed or getting explanations. The PDA tend to be in strike mode when after it switched itself OFF due to low battery. And getting it back on after that is tough. The Samsung Omnia 16GB is supposedly to have 16GB of internal space, or somewhere near that. But after adding and using this storage for around 3GB, the PDA had already showing an error message telling "Storage Memory is Critically Low". What the…  Was the PDA a faulty set? Or we were reading it wrongly at the box, ads, online and everywhere… its Samsung Omnia i900 3GB!

WESTERN DIGITAL ELEMENTS SE 500GB/GO

I got myself a Western Digital Elements SE  today. It is a 500GB external USB 2.0 portable hard disk. I had used up almost 70% of my notebook storage over some important things and crappy things as well. My notebook internal hard disk Is only 320GB in size, and divided into 2 partitions of 100GB and 200++ GB. After about 4 months, I had noticed that the notebook’s speed is creeping down on some stupid applications I am using. The internal hard disk is almost full with photos, books, articles and some other foolish stuff I picked up online. Maybe I need just to clean up those spaces and gain a little like 20-30GB back from it. I did that and I scrapped up only a measly 10++ GB only… superb. Now I had to buy thing again. I had already a 500GB 2.5” external hard disk on hand, which is also a Western Digital Scorpio Blue, but dead! I am yet to send them back for RMA (Return merchandise authorization). It had been dead for more than 3 months, but I’m just technically either too busy to pack it up and send it to Western Digital or too old to remember that I need to do that, every day for the past 3 months. Or maybe because I am aware that Western Digital is providing 3 years warranty for their hard disk, and the manufacturing date was on 26^th July 2010. The thing was dead because of some USB voltage spike from another amplified device. I’m not pretty sure what it was it, since I was not there, but according to the responsible bloke it was plugged on a Home Theatre System. So I guessed it must’ve been from the HiFi or the amplifier or things like that, with not-so-stable voltage, like the bloke.

For RM180, the new WD Elements SE is quite OK considering that the internal-type, Western Digital 2.5” 500GB SATA hard disk is priced at RM169. So after adding like RM25 for an external USB 2.0 2.5” casing (the cheapest of the cheap), the cost would be more than buying the WD Elements.  Plus, we get all Western Digital’s USB 2.0 external device; the Western Digital’s hard disk, the Western Digital’s external case with Western Digital’s design and emblem and logos, the Western Digital’s Cable and also the Western Digital’s box which is quite nice to be used for… you know, mementos type of thingy (LOL) or light-artillery-shell which is thrown only to friends, who drop your bike.

Basically the design is simple and not much of different from other offerings in the external hard disk market. The WD Elements SE is black contoured plastic case, sleek and lustrous on its side, rubberized feet on one surface but also a little thick for a 2.5” hard disk. To be exact, about double the thickness. Maybe they had some extra foam inside. The hard disk was already pre-formatted and ready to use. The hard disk also produces less heat compared to my already-dead Western Digital Scorpio with a cheap aluminum based encasement (Yes, comparison made base on; when the hard disk was not dead yet).

DELL VOSTRO 13

The auntie was looking for a light notebook. She has quite handsome budget on hand. She wanted her new laptop to be fairly small and light, not too small like 10” netbook. She also wanted her laptop to be smooth sailing and not too dull figure of an ordinary black notebook. So I get her the Dell Vostro 13. It is sleek, it is elegant, it is small, it is strikingly and unordinary designed, it is fast and it is indeed impressive.

The Vostro 13 is very light and thin, beautifully designed on an ultra-light aluminum body. The Dell Vostro 13.3” is strikingly thin for a 13.3” notebook, with brushed-aluminum finish. Built is sturdy and stable, with no spot of loose hinges or joints. It also features a full sized keyboard, which is pretty fair for its price range. The LCD screen is 13.3” led lighted display is HD, and on the upper part of it, is the 1.3M built in webcam. The battery is however is sealed with the notebook itself, using a 6 cells battery. Design wise, it is like a sheet of brushed aluminum thing, getting slice perfectly in the middle. Awesome.

The Ultra-Low voltage processor (SU7300) is fixed on the Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset, enables the notebook to run around 4-6 hours on single charge. Pretty impressive for a notebook. The Vostro 13 comes with a 500GB hard disk, 4 GB DDR3 RAM and other built-ins normally we find on other notebooks (Bluetooth 2.1, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 (1), Speaker, Stereo headphone jack, Microphone jack and integrated microphone array,  webcam, USB 2.0/eSATA combo (1), 5-in-1 card reader and 34 mm ExpressCard Slot). The Dell Vostro 13 unfortunately, doesn’t have an internal optical drive. That would not be much of a problem anyway, since we are now on the age of flash! As a whole, it is only 30.3cm x 23 cm, with a mere 20mm thick! Weighing only 1.6kg with the 6 cells battery, you will be amazed on how light you notebook bag will be. Even the Acer Iconia Tab is nearly 2kg and keeping it and going back and forth in your pouch pose a threat to your shoulder to. Physically, the Dell Vostro 13 is simply awesome. I wish it had better graphic processor, and oh, I wish I had it too, LOL.

Upon testing, the notebook went on gracefully, with a little pause here and there while the operating system is adjusting itself with its home. The keyboard and palm rest is fairly easy to adjust oneself. Since the notebook is very thin, adaptability is quicker than ordinary notebook.  I had configured the pre-installed Windows 7 with the needed applications and adjustment, and within an hour later, the notebook is ready for shipment. The supplied notebook bag is pretty colorful Targus bag, a shoulder type of bag, fit for women. Oh, I found that the Vostro 13 is short of USB port, but that doesn’t matter at all, whereas it awesomeness covers it quickly. Unlike Acer Aspire, this is the kind of laptop that would turn heads to you in coffee shops and public restrooms.

I had the system run for 5 hours, to enable the notebook to pick up updates from Microsoft and so on. The heat level is quite low for a notebook. It is very impressive. It must have been due to the goodness of ultra-low-voltage processor and the aluminum casing. The sound quality is crisp and sharp.  The provided 500GB is roomy enough for the aunt to store and work on her spreadsheets and costing figures. I have a feeling that she will at most used up only 10% of it. The graphic performance is not that bad either for a thin notebook. It can run Warcraft 3 upon testing it and other heavy applications too, Photoshop, Dreamweaver. I bet this thing can bot for Diablo 2 LOD. By the way, the aunt will not be needing this, so I had to uninstall them.
Picture taken from: Dell.com

BELKIN WIRELESS G ROUTER

Finally the Belkin Wireless G Router which was sent for repair couple of months ago has reached me. Been using it for quite some time, before one day, it just mysteriously not working, not sending anything, even the lights and led were not blinking. I assumed it had a blown fuse or something like it. Pretty bad, since I liked the router very much, because it’s the only router than can send supersonic wireless signal (exaggeration) from my office, through 100 square meters of not-so-dense woods to my house. It is pretty amazing, for a Wireless G router.  I do not know how it work, but there are like 2 x 7” thick walls for the signals to get through, plus 4 of approximately 60’ tall coconut trees, more than 10 banana trees, 4 durians trees at, and few other fruit species I can’t quite remember what it is. So, for quite some good time, the Belkin Wireless G Router has been send Wi-Fi signal through this area and to my house. I’ve tried other brands, even the wireless N grade routers. They just cannot get to the kind of coverage. I guessed, Belkin can curve and bend their Wi-Fi signals according to specific trees and plants. The other good part of this router is the lifetime warranty.

Setting up is almost none, since it had saved my previous settings before I sent them back for repairs. The Belkin Wireless G Router works like charm again. However, as I have increase the number of wireless devices in the office, the router cannot handle the current settings. Ah, just its luck to be put on shelf, boxed and displayed. Used Belkin Wireless G Router anyone?  

BROTHER MFC-5890CN

Finally, my CISS modified Canon MP145 has expired. The office got no printer and we need it quick. It has to be CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) modified. It has to be ink based, not laser or thermal printer since I hate the idea of using excessive electric (laser printer surges up to 200W during warming up) over a few couple of idiotic printouts. It has to be the least hassle CISS enabled printer. After a few days of not-so-intelligent covert ops and asking around, the option was narrowed down to Brother MFC-5890CN or Brother MFC-6490CW. Both printers is basically an A3 size multifunction printer, capable of printing, faxing, copying, scanning, wireless printing, direct printing from USB based device (DPoF) and of course, can be fitted with the CISS. Brother MFC-6490CW is priced at RM1399 while the smaller version, Brother MFC-5890CN is priced at RM899. We had a visit to Harvey Norman the next day, and eventually they’re having the Brother MFC-5890 plus the option of getting another 4 years extended warranty with additional RM200. Cool bargain, so we took home the MFC-5890CN.

The Brother MFC-5890CN is extra-ordinarily huge size printer for a Home Office, weighing around 10kg and about 50cm x 50cm wide and 30cm thick. It has an internal memory of 64MB and a 3.3” LCD above the control panel center, in the middle section of the printer. It’s a typical Brother design. The black-beige MFC-5890CN is energy efficient, much better than any laser printer in the market. This is the MFC-5890CN power consumption fact as compared to Brother HL-2140 (Laser Printer); 

MFC-5890CN                      Brother HL-2140

Power Save Mode          0.8W                                        -

Sleep Mode                    4.5W                                      5W

Standby                           6W                                       80W (You sure?)

Operating                       27W                                       460W (No Kidding!)

Inside the box, it is provided with 4 Brother Innobella cartridges LC67HY-BK (Black), LC67HY-Y (Yellow), LC67HY-C (Cyan) and LC67HY-M (Magenta), User manuals and Quick Setup Guide and few other accessories. Setting the printer up is easy and it need quite some space on my desk. Since we urgently required a printer for few important printouts needed, so I did just the basic operation of the printer during the initial phase.

The printer is equipped with an adjustable/extendable paper tray according to the size of the paper up to A3. However, only one type of paper size can be used at a time. Up to 200 papers can be fitted into the paper tray at once. I ran out few test pages using used-papers. It worked flawlessly. Printing speed is somehow slow for a printer at this range of pricing, and print quality is slightly better than average. It is pretty far from the claimed of 35 ppm for black and 28ppm for color printing. Scanning speed and copying is pretty quick using the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). The ADF can hold up to 50 pages and feeds each sheet individually. The flatbed scanner is quite heavy, since it also carries the weight of the ADF unit. Scanning using the flatbed is not easy if I opened the flatbed at the wrong angle (not from the front side). However, the Brother MFC 5890CN has a sturdy built of equipment. The Ethernet cable is routed nicely inside the printer unit, in a huge opening, just below the flatbed scanner unit.

I’ve encountered several situations where the printing operations halted and the paper jammed inside the unit. Getting it out is pretty simple. Stuck papers can be access from the front side and from the back compartment, namely the Jam-Clear Cover. It turned out that the unit is pretty selective on the type of papers it can use. Normally 80gm and 70gm will do, but a used or printed 70gm most likely get torn and stuck inside the unit.

The unit has four mode keys on the control panel; Fax, Scan, Copy and Photo Capture. The amount of time that the MFC unit takes after the last Scan, Copy or Photo Capture can be set and changed before it returns to Fax Mode. There are also security features that the unit offers such as Secure Function Lock, Administrator Password, Public User Setting and Function Restriction Settings. Operation is pretty straight forward on with the LCD control panel.  Just select from the four listed mode keys according to the task, at the MFC will execute the task. Then the Control Panel will prompt for specific options for instance, either direct scan to PC, or direct scan to print, or direct scan to file etc.

The Unit has a One-Touch-Dialing key where we can store up to 6 fax or telephone numbers for automatic dialing. One other notable feature of the MFC unit is the watermark copy.  We can place a logo or text into the document as a watermark where we can select one of the template watermarks, data from the media cards or USB Flash Memory drive, or scanned data.

Direct Photo Printing by the Photo Capture Center can be done even if the unit is not connected to the PC. According to the manual, the unit is able to read up to 8GB of flash memory card. There are various photo enhancement options software that is installed inside the unit itself. These photo enhancing features are; Auto-Correct Mode, Enhance Skin Tone, Enhance Scenery, Remove Red Eye, Monochrome, Sepia and even trimming the picture. Pretty remarkable for a stand-alone multifunction printer, but doing all that through the 3.3” LCD panel is a daunting task.  I wish the LCD Panel is bigger.  

The CD-ROM includes the Software User Guides and Network User Guides plus additional software for the MFC unit such as the MFC driver itself, MFL Pro Suite, Presto! Page Manager, FaceFilter Studio, ControlCenter3 both for Windows and Macs and Remote Setup.

Not bad of a printing machine, that can do multiple of task at this kind of price range. I have installed the Brother CISS and it happens to be neatest of CISS around. There's no dangling ink tubes again, and less likely we need to get inside the unit to adjust and readjust the CISS. Getting the MFC-5890CN to accept the CISS is tedious and took me like 5 hours, but once it is done, that's it. Eventually, unlike Canon and Epson or others, the Brother printer is managing their ink levels through a mechanical system, not software based or chip settings than can be reset with few tricks of button clicks series.  Well, the unit is entering its 2nd month of service, and only al-'Alim knows what's in store for me with this MFC-5890CN. The Brother ink cartridge is design in way that the ink level can be measured in the front section of the cartridge by light. It’s like, inside the unit on the cartridge compartment, once the cartridge is placed inside, the unit will pinpoint the front side of the cartridge with a laser-like light. If the light penetrates it, the cartridge is considered empty and the printer will be on strike mode, until we put a new cartridge in. Solution, place a small cut of black (non-reflective) duct tape on the front side of the cartridge. The printer will identify it to be full. Ah, it’s time to print again.