Epson Perfection 1640SU Office

WHAT'S HOT: Still on the corporate chart, the Epson Perfection 1640SU Office boasts a 1600-by-3200-dpi resolution, 42-bit color depth, zippy performance, and high-quality scans across the board. Print and on-screen image quality showed well-saturated colors, sharp focus, and clear details. This model also comes bundled with a sturdy, easily installed, 30-sheet automatic document feeder. It offers both SCSI and Universal Serial Bus interfaces; in our tests with the USB interface, the 1640SU outperformed other USB units (both SOHO and corporate).

WHAT'S NOT: Good quality doesn't come cheap, and the Perfection 1640SU Office's $449 price tag makes it substantially more expensive than another ADF-bundled model previously on the corporate chart, the $299 Visioneer OneTouch 8650 (although that scanner lacks the 1640SU's strong scan quality). If you want to use the scanner's SCSI connection, you'll need to purchase your own SCSI card and cable, because they aren't included in the box (and Epson no longer sells them as an add-on option). Live technical support is not toll-free.

WHAT ELSE: A modest transparency adapter ($99 extra) handles material up to 4 by 5 inches, but if you require a scanner whose strength lies in transparency scanning, the Epson Expression 1680 Artist ($899) is arguably a better choice because of its industrial-strength, 8.5-by-11-inch transparency adapter ($299). The software bundle includes powerful optical character recognition software, ScanSoft's TextBridge Pro 8.0, but the image editor, Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.0, isn't as full-featured as the more robust Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE, which accompanies other models on the corporate chart.

BEST USE: With its bundled ADF, the Perfection 1640SU Office aims to alleviate the workload of businesses and workgroups that primarily scan documents and perform OCR work.

SUMMARY

Epson Perfection 1640SU Office USB and SCSI, 1600 by 3200 dpi, 11.4 by 17.4 by 9.2 inches (width by depth by height), 14.8 pounds, 8.5-by-11-inch scanning area; optional transparency adapter; includes automatic document feeder. One-year warranty; free, unlimited, toll-call support for 12 hours on weekdays. $449 800/463-7766 www.epson.com