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Epson Emerges From Scanner Price Wars

Powerful new models offer 1600-dpi resolution and IEEE 1394 links.

By Dan Littman, PCWorld   

Acer, for example, last month launched the high-resolution, high-quality, and high-priced ScanPremio ST. And now Epson is about to ship the Expression 1600, a graphics-oriented scanner intended for designers working on desktop PCs.

The end of the price war means scanner prices may never dip very far below $100--after all, scanners (unlike printers) have no consumables, so vendors can't give them away. But vendors are applying what they learned from all that competition--yesterday's more sophisticated $3000 and $4000 graphics models cost $700 or $800 today.

Witness the Epson Expression 1600. It scans at 1600 by 3200 dots per inch and sees color at 36 bits (and can deliver the entire bit-depth to the PC). The Expression 1600 can also capture subtle tonal and shading variations with its 3.3 maximum density rating. The scanner is bundled with MonacoEZcolor, a calibration application for tuning your scanner's color perception to match the color displayed on your monitor and produced by printers.

Scan the Options

The Expression 1600 base model should cost around $800. The scanner can be equipped with both a transparency unit and an IEEE 1394, or FireWire, connection.

The Expression 1600 Pro FireWire comes with both a built-in FireWire adapter and a transparency unit. This model should cost $1400 when it ships late this month.

The Expression 1600 Artist--which includes a transparency unit that can handle 35mm, 4-by-5 inch, and 8-by-10 inch film--will retail for $1100.

A $500 automatic document feeder is available for all three models.

In addition to the color-calibration package, Epson packages Adobe Photoshop 5 LE, NewSoft's Presto PageManager document archiving software, and TextBridge Classic text-recognition software with the scanners.