Greg Watson

Scanners for the home

Scanners are an essential part of your home computer set-up, since not everything in this world has been digitized yet. There’s that box of old photos you’ve been meaning to scan and download onto your computer, there’s that magazine article you want to email to your friend, there’s that document you’d like to fax but you don’t have a home fax machine. The scanner is the one device that can fulfill all of these needs, and they’re relatively inexpensive, ranging from about $50 for basic scanners, on up, depending on the features. Once you determine your applications, that is, what you’ll mostly be using it for, then you can purchase a scanner accordingly. The technology is such these days that any scanner will afford you good enough resolution for photos and documents, capturing them with superb clarity.
Computer Scanners are also very simple to set up and install – let the software run itself and then plug in the USB cable. USB alert! Always wait for the software to tell you exactly when to connect the USB cable, or you could end up having installation problems. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? The three top brands of scanners are Canon Scanners, Epson Scanners, and HP Scanners. There is a wide selection available – printer scanners are becoming more popular these days, since it’s a space saver and they work exactly the same as a regular flatbed scanner. At around $120, the HP Photosmart C4180 All in One is one of the most affordable multi-task HP Scanners, a nice package for any college student needing to save space. Printer, copier, scanner, it’s Mac and PC compatible, prints 30 pages per minute, and the Photosmart Express program let’s you easily save and share photos.
Check the specs at www.superwarehouse.com. Already got a printer? Take a look at the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 Flatbed Scanner, which has Quick Automatic Retouching and Enhancement (QARE) technology that reduces dust and scratches and even corrects automatically fading, graininess, bad backlighting. It’s a pretty smart machine for under $50, very affordable at www.superwarehouse.com.  Are you a photo buff? Check out the Epson Scanners Perfection 4490 PHOTO Flatbed Scanner, a little bit more professional model at $179, offers Digital ICE technology that makes it possible to scan slides and negatives and capture top notch quality. Which ever way you go, there’s a scanner out there for you, so take a look and get scanning.