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Buyer's Guide to Scanners
by Answers 2000 Limited
Scanners are devices which attach to your computer,
and will scan paper, photographs, etc, and convert
them into computer images.
Here's how we would recommend choosing a scanner:
- Don't consider "Enhanced" resolution, but
instead look at "Optical" resolution which should be
600 DPI (DPI = Dots per inch) or higher, for a good quality scanner.
- Enhanced resolution is
software technique for adding additional detail to scanned images.
- Many graphics, painting and
scanning programs may include an image "enhance" function anyway.
- Scanners usually can be connected to your computer
using USB or SCSI interfaces. SCSI transfers data faster which could
be important if you plan to scan large high-quality color images.
- Scanners can use either
CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices) or CISs
(Contact Image Sensors) to digitize your images.
CCDs usually result in better quality images but can cost more.
- Scanners often come with software. Make sure you
know what you're getting and it's a good overall package.
- If you want to scan text and put
the text into your wordprocessor, you also need
OCR ("Optical Character Recognition") software.
Some scanners come with OCR software,
sometimes limited versions,
otherwise you'll need to buy OCR software separately.
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