I'd like to buy a scanner

[Ron Weasley]

I'd like to buy a scanner for personal use. Right now I only plan to use it to scan photographs to e-mail to family and friends. Since I don't currently have a scanner at home, I have no idea what other useful things I may wish to do once I have one.

Any ideas about useful features in a scanner or specific model recommendations? My budget is ~$100.

RW

[MetsMan]

Just bought a scanner as a X-mas gift. While I spent a bit more than your budget, I researched the purchase on http://www.zdnet.com, and found the info. very useful.

Good Luck

[Ron Weasley]

Thanks MetsMan. For my stated purpose, it looks like scanners at the low end are commodities and pretty much anything will do.

What I'm trying to gain here is a sense of what others find useful. For example, Canon makes a scanner that is very light and can be stored on its side to save space, but no sheet feeder is available. Epson makes a scanner with more features and a higher scanning resolution but lousy software. Microtek has good software and more features than the Canon product, but a lower scanning resolution than Epson in this price range and seems to have problems with user support.

Do any of these trade-offs really matter?

[Maine-iac]

Go for the better resolution. I don't think even the clunkiest software is that hard to use, and you do notice the better resolution.

I haven't got a sheet feeder, and I don't miss it. For home use, I rarely scan all that many sheets at once.

Mine is an HP flat bed, I don't think the particular model is available any more. It works fine with no problems with it over 4 years.

[Sue Reitz]

Well, I hate to ruin your fun, because scanners can be cool. But if all you want to do is e-mail photos to family and friends, maybe all you need to do is order the photo CD when you get your pictures developed. At K-Mart, the option of getting 1 set of prints and the CD costs the same as getting 2 set of prints.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Or, buy a digital camera.
Or, buy a printer that can also be a scanner. (If only to save desk space.)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dr T Non-Fan on 2001-12-28 13:03 ]</font>

[Ron Weasley]

Well, I hate to ruin your fun, because scanners can be cool.

Okay, tell me the cool stuff! My stated reason for buying a scanner is my compelling reason, but I don't want to miss out on any of the fun stuff and I don't know what that is.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Oh, there's the occasional sitting upon it...

[Rockhound]

If you have kids, there's lots of other stuff you end up scanning and sending: "Art" work, their hand print, and their name in the local paper for winning the pinewood derby, or being on the honor role are a few that come to mind.

[Minerva]

And all of those "little" things that we want to/need to make copies of and would rather not run out to Kinko's or take them into the office for a clandestine copy.

We just got a combination scanner/printer/copier (Compaq, I think, 'cause so is our home PC). High resolution, under $200 but I can't tell you how it is yet, because it's so new I haven't cleared off a space for it yet.

[Ron Weasley]

Thanks for all of the input. I ended up getting a ScanMaker 4800 made by Microtek. It has a 2400X1200 resolution with 48 bit color depth. The software has a dummy mode that's very easy to use for clearing out red-eye etc. and a technical mode that will let you control far more things than I understand. That was all for $100 on the street.

I still don't see the part that you sit upon. :grin:

For those of you who have had your head buried in the sand like me for the last few years, a scanner now can serve the functionality of a photocopier. As long as you have a USB port available, most of them now have a button on the front that you press and the photocopy comes out of your regular printer without any additional user involvement with your computer. Pretty nerdy, but kinda cool and darn useful.

RW