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Bargain 36-Bit Scanners: Not for Everyone

New flatbed models from Mustek and Microtek Lab feature 36-bit color and 600-by-1200 resolution.

By PC World Staff   

New flatbed models from Mustek and Microtek Lab feature 36-bit color and 600-by-1200-dot-per-inch resolution--the first scanners to offer these specifications at a street price of $200 or less. But the difference in quality between these scanners and their 30-bit, 300-by-600-dpi competitors selling for $99 isn%squott always noticeable. Casual users may not want to spend the extra money, while people who enlarge and tweak photos regularly may find the investment worth making.

I reviewed preproduction versions of Mustek%squots $199 Plug-n-Scan 1200 III EP and Microtek Lab%squots $179 ScanMaker X6.

The Microtek has buttons to power the device on and launch its scanning software (the software works only with Windows 95, however). The Mustek offers to launch its software whenever you lift its lid--which can be irritating.

Nonetheless, I found Mustek%squots scanning software easier to use than Microtek%squots somewhat confusing ScanSuite. Mustek also includes Micrografx%squots Picture Publisher photo-retouching software (for Windows 3.1 and 95), Ulead%squots iPhoto Plus 4 (Windows 95 only) for publishing photos, and Xerox%squots TextBridge Classic (a short version of TextBridge) optical character recognition program.

Microtek%squots fine applications bundle includes Ulead PhotoImpact 4.0 (a superior low-end image editing package), a limited-edition version of the Caere OmniPage OCR program, the DocuMagix PaperMaster document manager, and MetaCreation%squots Kai%squots Photo Soap morphing software.

Overall, I found the Microtek a better deal. But if you don%squott require these scanners%squot higher resolution and color depth for sophisticated graphics, a good 30-bit scanner should work equally well.

For the complete story, see Yardena Arar%squots %dquotBargain 36-Bit Scanners: Not for Everybody%dquot in May%squots PC World magazine.