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The Latest in Portable Computer Scanners |
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Tuesday, 28 August 2007 |
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Image scanning has grown to the point that most computers in the United States now have either a flatbed or sheetfed scanner attached to them. Users are filling their hard drives with digital copies of family photos and letters, contracts and wills, and a host of other images. Lately, the trend in home, school and office scanning applications has been toward the use of portable scanners. This technology is advancing rapidly, with new models appearing at an increasing rate.
The latest portable scanners take two forms. Some are small sheetfed scanners, about the size of a handheld three-hole punch. The other is a wand-shaped scanner that the user sweeps horizontally down the page, building a scan of the entire document. Almost pocket-sized - not quite, but still very portable. Many of these are now designed to operate either connected to a computer, drawing power through the USB connection, or just by themselves, powered by rechargeable batteries and storing the scanned images in memory for later download. With built-in memory, a couple hundred images may be stored in the portable scanner, and many models will now accept memory cards like a digital camera, expanding the number of images it can hold. It’s beginning to sound like something out of an old spy movie.Each type of portable scanner has its advantages and disadvantages. The portable sheetfed scanners offer consistency in image quality, but are limited by the fact that only loose sheets or pictures may be fed through them. Downloaded images are squared up nicely, however, due to the moving parts their batteries run down more quickly and are more prone to breaking down. The handheld wand types offer greater versatility, in that it is possible to scan books, magazines and larger documents. It’s even possible to scan just a portion of the page. However, there are drawbacks. User reviews of many of the early models indicate that while they tend to do an adequate job of scanning, the housings are clumsy and, in many cases, cheaply built. Some users report that battery life does not live up to expectations, and that scanning a page manually often results in an inconsistent image. This technology needs more development before its use can become more widespread. |
