Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

tips for buying a faster scanner ?

Mar 26, 2004 2:16PM PST

hello folks,

I currently have an old microtek scanner, it does a good job but oh boy is it SLOW . . . like molasses in january. have to sit and sit while it previews, then sit and sit while it scans and resets. and I am blinded by the light if I lift the lid before the scanning cycle completes.

also, when i went to windows 2k, it really didn't like that too much, had to install new drivers but I never got full functionality. so it's hooked up to my win 98 machine. that's not important tho . . .

what IS important is I have a huge scanning job ahead of me-- hundreds of pages, and I think it's time for a new scanner, BUT-- is a newer scanner any faster? and any advice on what to get? am running AMD 1800 win2000 on main machine, altho i think it would be better to hook this up to my win98 machine as that office has more room.

fyi, I do a fair amount of scanning color pictures, but this job happens to be converting a lot of b&w pages to pdf.

thanks! - fj

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
also. . . .
Mar 26, 2004 2:24PM PST

also, are there auto-feeding scanners to be had, for big paper scanning jobs? it's such a pain to do it page by page by hand. --fj

- Collapse -
Re:tips for buying a faster scanner ?
Mar 26, 2004 11:23PM PST

Most of those old scanners were connected to the parallel port. Drivers were always a problem and they were slow........in a race with a turtle, the turtle would win.

Now, most of the scanners connect to the USB and are much faster. No comparison.

You also might want to consider one of those all-in-on printers (scanner, copier, printer). I have one and being able to easily make copies (color, grayscale, black/white) at home is a time saver. Some scanners also come with software that lets you easily do copying.

Some scanners (and some all-in-one printers) have automatic feeders, you should look at that too.

I suggest you go to one of the large office supply stores that display large amounts of sample scanners. Take a look at what is available and get your hands on them.

..

- Collapse -
Re:Re:tips for buying a faster scanner ?
Mar 27, 2004 2:35AM PST

New scanners are USB, even USB 2.0 if you have USB 2.0
on your computer. The Epson and Canon models are getting the best reveiws, and some have document auto-feed.
Although a lot of people like the all in one units, I won't suggest them unless space is REALLY a problem. You don't get a top quality version of any of the different
parts. That's the tradeoff. Also, if it matters, most won't work in Linux. You can compare speed, quality, and features in many forums and magazines. chuck

- Collapse -
let's put it this way
Mar 27, 2004 1:31PM PST

do all newer scanners, regardless of connection (USB, firewire, etc), crawl along taking 20-30 seconds or more to scan each page? if so, may as well go with what I've got - --fj

- Collapse -
20-30 seconds per page.
Mar 27, 2004 9:32PM PST

The "retail" units run at that speed for the simple reason that to go faster means an 10x uptick in your costs.

I have a really nifty photo scanner that you put in the photo, tap a button and it does the scan in 14 seconds. That's as fast as I've seen it go in the consumer models.

If we get into the document/business scanners, the price can easily jump to 5 dollar figures. But they run at 10 or so sheets per second.

Bob

- Collapse -
thanks bob
Mar 28, 2004 6:51AM PST

that answers my question. may as well stick with what i have. - fj