| Holiday
Buyer's Guide Index
12-11-01
This special series of Holiday
Buyer's Guides is dedicated to the holiday shoppers that
also happen to be terminal procrastinators. Every day through
the 21st, we will post a new guide covering gift ideas from
a variety of categories and price ranges.
 Today,
in a follow-up to yesterday's guide to FireWire Scanners,
we look at USB scanners. Where FireWire scanners are targeted
squarely at the graphics professional, USB scanners are intended
for the more casual user. Competition is fierce among makers
of USB scanners, evidenced by the fact that 90% of our
scanner review listings are USB. This competition has
served to keep prices down while quality and resolution has
improved from initial offerings. USB scanners are slower than
their FireWire counterparts but the contrast is less striking
than you might think given each ports maximum throughput.
FireWire scanners are often hampered by the speed of the scanning
element and on board processing time.
Below we look at three USB scanners ranging in price from
$100 to $500. The Canon CanoScan N670U is a bus powered scanner
sporting a modest maximum resolution of 600x1200. Priced at
$100, the N670U still has a good bang-to-buck ratio and received
very high marks in a recent MacUser UK review.
Canon's CanoScan D2400UF represents the other end of the spectrum
sporting an impressive 2400x4800 max resolution and averaging
about $500. Check out our price section below, though, as
we managed to find it for less... The D2400UF also garnered
high praise from MacUser
UK. Epson's Perfection 1650 series falls in between the
two Canon printers in both resolution (1600 x 3200) and price,
$200. The Perfection 1650 is also available bundled with Adobe
Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements is Adobe's consumer
version of Photoshop and has received rave
reviews. The Epson Perfection Photo costs $50 more than
the base scanner. Photoshop Elements runs about $90 retail.
Notable Quotes
Canon CanoScan N670U 600 x 1200
"The CanoScan has a nice, slimline design that features
three one-touch scanning buttons on the front for scanning,
copying and emailing an image. Some home users will be able
to get by using only these buttons. Just press the button
and the scanner does the hard work for you." — MacUser
UK
Canon CanoScan D2400UF 2400 x 4800
"Canon's new flagship scanner looks similar to the budget
D660U but has a lot more power under the hood, boasting an
unusually high 2400ppi x4800ppi optical resolution as well
as 48-bit colour. The transparency hood makes it an all-rounder
at an attractive price." — MacUser
UK
Epson Perfection 1650 & 1650 Photo
"The Epson Perfection 1650 Photo is a complete photo
and film scanner for advanced hobbyists and pros on a budget.
Its optical resolution of 1600 x 3200 dots per inch gives
enough information for manipulating high-resolution files.
A unique aspect of the 1650 is its four buttons designed to
automate scanning for email, printing, and other tasks."
— macHOME
Price Comparison Information
| Vendor |
Price |
Do I Pay Tax? |
In Stock? |
| Canon CanoScan
N670U |
ClubMac |
$99.00  |
CA |
Yes |
JandR Computer |
$99.99 |
NY |
Yes |
MacConnection
|
$99.95 |
OH, MA, TN |
Yes |
MacMall |
$97.99  |
CA,, TN, WI |
Yes |
Macwarehouse
|
$99.95 |
CT, NJ, IL, OH, TN |
Yes |
Outpost |
$87.95 |
CT, OH |
Yes |
| Canon CanoScan
D2400UF |
| ClubMac |
$499.00
 |
CA |
Yes |
| JandR Computer |
$499.99 |
NY |
No |
|
MacConnection
|
$449.00 |
OH, MA, TN |
Yes |
| MacMall |
$478.99
 |
CA,, TN, WI |
Yes |
|
Macwarehouse
|
$499.95 |
CT, NJ, IL, OH, TN |
Yes |
| Outpost |
$499.99 |
CT, OH |
Yes |
| Epson Perfection
1650 |
| ClubMac |
$199.00  |
CA |
Yes |
| JandR Computer |
$199.99 |
NY |
Yes |
|
MacConnection
|
$199.00 |
OH, MA, TN |
Yes |
| MacMall |
$199.99  |
CA,, TN, WI |
Yes |
|
Macwarehouse
|
$199.95 |
CT, NJ, IL, OH, TN |
Yes |
| MacZone |
$199.99 |
WA, NV, OH, TN |
Yes |
| Outpost |
$199.99 |
CT, OH |
Yes |
|
