Epson Perfection 1640SU Office
WHAT'S HOT: Still on the Corporate chart, the Epson
Perfection 1640SU Office boasts a 1600-by-3200-dpi resolution, 42-bit color
depth, zippy performance, and high-quality scans across the board. Print and
on-screen image quality showed well-saturated colors, sharp focus, and clear
details. This model also comes bundled with a sturdy, easily installed,
30-sheet automatic document feeder. It offers both SCSI and Universal Serial
Bus interfaces; in our tests with the USB interface, the 1640SU outperformed
other USB units (both SOHO and corporate).
WHAT'S NOT: Good quality doesn't come cheap, and the
Perfection 1640SU Office's $449 price tag makes it substantially more expensive
than a previous ADF-bundled model to make the corporate chart, the $299
Visioneer OneTouch 8650 (although that scanner lacks the 1640SU's strong scan
quality). If you want to use the scanner's SCSI connection, you'll need to
purchase your own SCSI card and cable, because they aren't included in the box
(and Epson no longer sells them as an add-on option). Live technical support is
not toll-free.
WHAT ELSE:
A
modest transparency adapter ($99 extra) handles material up to 4 by 5 inches,
but if you require a scanner whose strength lies in transparency scanning, the
Epson Expression 1680 Artist ($899) is arguably a better choice because of its
industrial-strength, 8.5-by-11-inch transparency adapter ($299). The software
bundle includes powerful optical character recognition software, ScanSoft's
TextBridge Pro 8.0, but the image editor, Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.0, isn't as
full-featured as the more robust Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE, which accompanies
other models on the corporate chart.
BEST USE: With its bundled ADF, the Perfection 1640SU
Office aims to alleviate the workload of businesses and workgroups that
primarily scan documents and perform OCR work.
| Buying Information | | Epson Perfection 1640SU Office
$449
USB and SCSI, 1600 by 3200 dpi, 11.4 by
17.4 by 9.2 inches (width by depth by height), 14.8 pounds, 8.5-by-11-inch
scanning area; optional transparency adapter; includes automatic document
feeder. One-year warranty; free, unlimited, toll-call support for 12 hours on
weekdays.
800/463-7766
www.epson.com
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