WHAT'S HOT: The Microtek ScanMaker 4800 scores big, thanks to its attractive image quality, strong performance, and impressively low price. This scanner offers 48-bit color, 1200-by-2400-dpi resolution, easy USB connectivity, and dual-format versatility (both reflective and transparent scan modes are supported)--all for a very affordable price of $100. The ScanMaker 4800 is also fairly speedy. In our maximum-resolution (1200-dpi) test, for instance, its throughput rate of 593 kilobytes per second keeps up with some of the fastest USB scanners we've tested.

WHAT'S NOT: Free technical support (you pay any telephone toll charges) is available only for 90 days after purchase. You'll have to pay to speak to a technician after that. No automatic document feeder is available.

WHAT ELSE: The ScanMaker 4800 has the same compact design as its entry-level cousin, the 600-dpi Microtek ScanMaker 3800; both include five quick-start buttons: Scan, Copy, E-Mail, OCR, and Scan to Web. The Scan to Web feature automatically scans and uploads images to your personal photo-sharing Web site, hosted by iMira.com. The 4800 also comes with a transparency module (LightLid 35) that handles 35mm slides and filmstrips. The ample software bundle includes an image editor and an image manager (Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.0 and Ulead Photo Explorer 7.0 SE, respectively), an optical character recognition program (Abbyy FineReader 4.0 Sprint), and a Web-page designer (Trellix Web 2.7). The proficient TWAIN driver (Microtek ScanWizard 5.75) provides separate modes for beginners and advanced users, and it includes integrated functions for saving a scanned document as an Adobe Acrobat PDF.

UPSHOT: For SOHO and home users looking for the most bang for their buck, the dual-format Microtek ScanMaker 4800 offers pleasing images, speedy performance, and push-button convenience at a very low price--but the skimpy tech support is a slight drawback.

SUMMARY

Microtek ScanMaker 4800 USB, 1200 by 2400 dpi, 11.3 by 17.1 by 3.1 inches (width by depth by height), 6 pounds, 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanning area; includes transparency adapter; no optional automatic document feeder. One-year warranty; toll-call technical support (10 hours on weekdays) limited to 90 days; thereafter, fee-based, toll-call support (during the same hours) is available for a hefty $30 per call. $100 310/297-5000 www.microtekusa.com