My Sweet Scanners

Sharing my love of home office equipment. 

How to Select a Scanner for Home

There are a number of different scanners available these days. The fact that we've got these many options is a wonderful thing even though most people don't know every single characteristic in the great selection of scanners available.

Making an Informed Decision

Plenty of people buy a scanner to work with at home and yet often they question if they made the correct choice in the style or perhaps brand they selected. Understanding the exact specifications that are significant in terms of a scanner can help an individual make a better decision. Before selecting any scanner you'll want to check out some reviews on the scanners you are thinking about to learn what characteristics there are and the way that compares to its competitors.

Flatbed vs Sheetfed

Before getting a scanning device, make certain you determine what sort of documents you are likely to use in the scanner. By knowing the dimensions and the type of paper you'll be utilizing, you can more easily figure out whether to opt for a flatbed or a sheetfed scanner. You may also wish to look into the all-in-one printers because they provide an entire suite of functions. Almost all of them incorporate scanning, copying, printing along with faxing in their functionality. Multifunctional ink jet printers will also conserve a little room within your office simply by using just one machine.

Document Scanners

The first feature you'll want to think about is the choice of an automatic document feeder (ADF). The automatic document feeder is a flat surface which will bring the document straight into the scanner to get scanned. But most ADFs can hold many documents at once, pulling every page to be scanned in individually. This enables you to do volume scanning of paperwork which makes scanning a lot of papers go more rapidly. These kinds of scanners are generally referred to as sheetfed or document scanners.

Flatbed Scanners

However what the majority of people want is a flatbed scanner, either standard or photographic. Flatbed scanning devices will scan more things than a sheetfed scanner, items like photos, magazines and books. Image scanners can be a style of flatbed but are manufactured to offer greater graphic quality on picture scanning along with slide scanning. To note, a photo scanner won't have the full speed of a document scanner but it provides greater versatility.

Scanner Compatibility

Buying a scanner that's compatible with your personal computer's operating system (OS) and specifications is likewise crucial. Virtually all scanners will be universally compatible nevertheless, you must investigate anyway. A person does not have to be a technical wizard in order to do this but you will have to know what type of computer system you are running, and also what edition. The actual scanner application might need to be upgraded later should you ever update your operating system.

Scanner Resolution

You need to take into consideration the scanner's resolution as well as color depth when picking a scanning device. Scanners which have a bigger DPI can offer much better images typically. Also, select a scanner that provides higher color depth as images will be more intense.

The Final Decision

Prior to making your final decision, make sure you learn all about the scanner's performance, the servicing agreement, the warranty length as well as other essential details. It is better to ask basic questions to make an educated decision rather than make an ignorant one and regret your decision later.