TECH REPORT | John Brandon

The Best Business Scanners

Must-have hardware for the cloud-friendly office

Courtesy Companies

 

If your company is storing more data in the cloud these days, a desktop scanner that reproduces documents in high resolution could come in handy. We tested four new models to see how they stack up. Here are the results.

EPSON

A good option for frequent photo scanning, Epson's Perfection V500 scans at a crisp resolution of 6,400 dots per inch, or DPI, and has a document feeder and a flatbed. It's no speed demon; it can handle just three pages per minute using its feeder. But it has nice features, such as buttons that can be programmed to save scans as Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, or other files. COST: $350

FUJITSU

The ScanSnap S1500, which can scan up to 20 pages per minute at a resolution of 600 DPI, is the speediest model in our test group. It can scan two sides at once, automatically detect paper size in its feeder, and correct paper alignment. Another useful feature: a sound-wave detector that measures the space between documents to detect imminent jams, then sends an alert. COST: $495

HP

The HP Scanjet N6350 can scan both sides of a document at once, processing up to 15 pages per minute at a sharp resolution of 2,400 DPI. It has a handy feature that lets you scan at your desk and print across the hall in one step, and it has the ability to connect to your network to make sharing scanned documents easier. You also can create shortcuts to scan to different programs. COST: $899

VISIONEER

Two scanners for the price of one, the Strobe 500 from Visioneer comes with a desktop document feeder that scans 15 pages per minute at a resolution of 600 DPI. Press a button to remove the docking station, and you have a 2.2-pound portable scanner to take on the road. Like the HP and Epson models, it has buttons that can be customized to save scans as different file types. COST: $399

John Brandon is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine and writes the Tech Trends column in every issue. He also writes the Tech Report column for Inc.com. @jmbrandonbb