Thinking about a new photo scanner?
January 14th, 2009Computer are a core part of any SOHO office computer equipment because it is increasingly critical that we have the ability to digitize work products, not to mention photographs and other treasures. There are other practical uses as well, a scanner allows you an efficient way to archive news and magazine articles. Today, your don’t need a physical fax machine to send a fax any longer, and a scanner allows you to convert documents into a digital format that allows you to send a fax. Scanners are cheap, you can pick up a basic one as low as $50.
Chooseing a scanner shouldn’t be hard, make your decision based on the features that you need. What are you going to be doing with it? Don’t buy a scanner with features you won’t need. Today, any scanner is going to be just fine for photographs and documents.
New scanners are easy to install and configure. In fact, its almost automatic on most new computers now - you simply run the installation software and follow the on-screen instructions. For most winodws computers, you will be prompted to plug in the scaner after the software has installed and then reboot. That’s it!
There are three top consumer and small business brands of scanners that you really need to look at. Cannon, HP, and Epson all make top scanners that each provide unique differences worth looking at. Do you want a flatbed scanner? Do you care more about photos? HP makes a create Photosmart line of scanners for around $120. An All-In-ONe multi-function scanner, HP makes a nice unit that includes a scanner, printer, and copier all in one. It is also compatible with both a Mac and a PC. It is a great unit that allows you to work with documents and photos and share them with your friends.
If you want to compare different scanners, one of the easiest ways is to compare them at any online retailer. There you can compare the features and specs of a variety of scanners and choose one that is right for you. If you already have a printer, Cannon makes the CanoScan line of flatbed scanners that has the QARE technology built in that does a pretty good job of automatically correcting common problems such as scratches, dust, fading, photo graininess and bad backlighting. It’s pretty affordable at around $50.
If you are into photographs, then you really should check out the Epson line of Scanners. Their Perfection Photo Flatbed line of scanners are a little more professional but also a litle more expensive, typically around $179. Their Digital ICE software technology allows you to scan slides at high resolution converting your old slide collection into digital images. It is a good quality scanner. So consider what you want to do with a scanner and make your choice according.