Choosing the Right Scanner

If you are looking for a new document scanner, there are a few key attributes that you should know about:

Scanner Resolution

This determines the ammount of detail that can be captured in a scan. It is the number of pixels that the scanner can see. The higher the resolution, the better that the quality of the image will be. Measured in DPI (dots per inch). Most professional document printers (and magazines) generally print at 300 dpi, photos are higher. So ideally you will scan documents up to 300 dpi and photos at least 600 dpi.

Flatbed Scnner vs. Sheetfed

Flatbed scanners have a flat, glass surface. The document to be scanned is positioned on the glass surface and the lid is shut. This is typically used for environments where very limited scanning takes place or for "irregular" objects like books.
Sheetfed scanners are useful when you need a lot of sheets scanning, as a stack of single sheets can be automatically fed. Perfect for scanning large projects.

Manufacturer

There are a range of manufacturers, some suited to domestic and some commercial scanners. Some of the top manufacturers include Canon Scanners, Epson Scanners and Fujitsu Scanner.

Scanning Speed

Scan speed is rated in pages per minute (ppm) for simplex scanning and images per minute (ipm) for duplex scanning. Pages per minute (ppm) indicates the number of pages scanned every minute. Images per minute (ipm) indicates the number of actual images (front and back) scanned in a minute. The higher this number is the better.

Simplex or Duplex

Do you need your scanner to scan both sides of the document at once? If so, you need a duplex scanner.

Document Size

Determine the size of documents that you want to scan, and this is the size of scanner you should buy. eg. A4 scanners, A5 or A6/cheque sizes.