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Top 10 Scanners

All four new scanners tested this month--three small-office models and one corporate--make the chart.

Alexandra Krasne

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Canon CanoScan Lide 50 PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated: August 27, 2003

1. Canon CanoScan Lide 50

1200 by 2400 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR software, No transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $100,

Bottom Line: The Lide 50 offers good overall performance at a nice price. Has a light, slim design, but no transparency adapter.

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Microtek ScanMaker i320 PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0

Last Rated: April 07, 2004

2. Microtek ScanMaker i320

3200 by 6400 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Abbyy FineReader Sprint OCR software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $150,

Bottom Line: Midrange scanner produces nice color, but its transparency adapter can handle only one 35mm slide at a time.

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Visioneer OneTouch 9000 USB PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated: September 16, 2002

3. Visioneer OneTouch 9000 USB

1200 by 4800 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, ArcSoft PhotoImpression software, No transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $80,

Bottom Line: A low price and generous software bundle make this model a good value. Its image quality could be better, though.

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Epson Perfection 1670 Photo PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: August 27, 2003

4. Epson Perfection 1670 Photo

1600 by 1600 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, ArcSoft PhotoImpression and Abbyy FineReader Sprint OCR software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $129,

Bottom Line: Easy-to-use driver includes one-click photo restoration, but we've seen better image quality.

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HP Scanjet 5530 Photosmart PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: March 30, 2004

5. HP Scanjet 5530 Photosmart

2400 by 4800 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, HP Photo and Imaging software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $230,

Bottom Line: Successor to HP's 5500e has the same snapshot feeder. Ties for fastest model on the small-office chart at monochrome scanning.

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Microtek ScanMaker 4900 PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: June 23, 2002

6. Microtek ScanMaker 4900

2400 by 4800 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 1.1 port, Adobe Photodeluxe 4.0 and Abbyy FineReader Sprint OCR software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $100,

Bottom Line: Solidly constructed scanner provides great-looking color photos, but its quick-start buttons can be tricky to configure.

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Visioneer OneTouch 7300 USB PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0

Last Rated: March 30, 2004

7. Visioneer OneTouch 7300 USB

1200 by 1200 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7, USB 2.0 port, ArcSoft PhotoImpression and ScanSoft Texbridge OCR engine software, No transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $80,

Bottom Line: Lightweight, portable model powered via USB cable is sluggish at color scans, but its image quality is worth the wait.

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HP Scanjet 8200 PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: August 27, 2003

8. HP Scanjet 8200

4800 by 4800 dpi, 8.5 by 14 scanning area, USB 2.0 port, Adobe Photoshop Elements, HP Photo and Imaging, and IRIS ReadIRIS Pro software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $500,

Bottom Line: Speediest scanner of monochrome images on the chart has six buttons, and more software than HP's consumer units do.

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Epson Perfection 4870 Photo PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated: March 30, 2004

9. Epson Perfection 4870 Photo

4800 by 9600 dpi, 8.5 by 11.7 scanning area, USB 2.0, Firewire port, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Abbyy FineReader Sprint OCR software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $449,

Bottom Line: High-resolution scanner gets good marks for its color accuracy and ability to capture fine details.

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Microtek ScanMaker 8700 Pro Design PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated: October 19, 2001

10. Microtek ScanMaker 8700 Pro Design

1200 by 2400 dpi, 8.5 by 14 scanning area, FireWire, USB 1.1 port, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Abbyy FineReader Sprint OCR software, Transparency adapter, Street price when ranked: $575,

Bottom Line: Produced crisp and realistic color scans in our tests. Performs both reflective and transparency scanning.

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All scanners are tested at default settings under Windows XP Home on a Dell Dimension 2800 (2-GHz Pentium 4) PC with 512MB of RAM, using each scanner's bundled software. Overall rating is based on image quality (SOHO 22 percent, corporate 25 percent), speed (SOHO 18 percent, corporate 25 percent), ease of use (SOHO 15 percent, corporate 10 percent), features (SOHO 12 percent, corporate 15 percent), support (SOHO 13 percent, corporate 10 percent), and price (SOHO 20 percent, corporate 15 percent). Speeds are timed from the start of prescanning until cursor control is regained. Data based on tests designed by the PC World Test Center.

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