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| December 24 - January 14 2001 |
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 by Alessandro CancianIf youre looking for a scanner but the space available is a problem, I suggest you take a look at one of the latest models from Canon. Slightly bigger than a legal-sized sheet, the N640P is a scanner able to fit in your computer bag with no problem. This full-featured scanner weighs only 3.3 pounds and has an ultrasmall footprint, with actual measurements of 10.1" by 14.7" by 1.5". Dont get fooled by the small size: the N640P is a 42-bit colour scanner, capable of a maximum optical resolution of 600x1200 dpi on a scanning area of 8.5" by 11.7". The Canon products are perfectly compatible with any computer equipped with Windows 95, 98, NT, or 2000 Professional, and a parallel port. Installation on a Win 98 machine was a breeze, and in a short while the scanner was ready to read the first picture. The N640P comes bundled with a lot of good software, such as ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000, for image retouching, and Caere OmniPage Pro, an OCR package, ideal for converting text pages into text files. The quality of this machine is more than satisfactory, especially in colour reproduction; from some standpoints, even better than I expected. The N640P is fast, scanning 72 dpi images, ready for Web use, but if you want higher resolutions the process takes longer, sometimes much longer. In regards to text scanning, I had no problems with black and white pages but I found some minor glitches with colour text. The Canon scanner is particularly suited to the SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) market, and for those who still own a computer with no USB port. If this is not the case, then maybe it is advisable to purchase a different Canon model. Anyway, the N640P is equipped with a second parallel port for connecting a printer. The price, at $119 CDN, seems more than reasonable, considering the characteristics of this product. For further information please visit www.canon.ca |
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