Agfa SnapScan 1236u

Advantages: Cheap, scans come out pretty well too
Disadvantages: Not compatible with Windows 2000

...I've had the AGFA SnapScan 1212p for a few years now. I would agree that it's not exactly a slimline scanner, but then again, compare it with other scanners that are a few years old and it's nothing out of the ordinary. It's very easy to install in Windows 95 and Windows 98. Upgrading from Windows 98 to ME didn't make a difference, it quite happily continued working without needing to be installed again. I tend to use the TWAIN import feature in my paint package though, instead of using the software that came with the scanner. It's slow by todays standards but then I did pick it up for £20 on the bargain rail in PC World about three years ago! The speed is not a problem unless you're scanning lots of items, I am a fairly light scanner user so it doesn't matter to me. The resolution is fine as well, colour reproduction is pretty... Read review

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Advantages: USB, Looks good, simple to use
Disadvantages: Yet another product with poor documentation

...The Agfa SnapScan 1212u is a USB flatbed scanner. It is mostly recommended for home use and maybe small business. The first thing you notice when you open the box is the dual Macintosh and Windows 98 support. Nothing mentionned about earlier versions of Windows. This is interesting if you own a PC besides your Mac and need to scan images to use on a PC. Agfa claims that its color capture is 36-bit and reaches over 68 billion colors. Its plate takes up to 600 (horizontal) x 1200 (vertical) in resolution and scans up to 9600 DPI. It ships with ScanWise, the Color It! image editor, and OmniPage LE. The latter is for text recognition, which I don't use very often, but a mate told me it is quite adequate. Installation This scanner is easy to install. First, you plug the USB cable from the scanner to the USB port of the hub. Second, plug... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, parallel port, fast and friendly service, good software included.
Disadvantages: Erm, haven't found any yet, except the OCR (text editing) software was hard to setup properly.

...and easily and within minutes I was scanning a photograph. There are plenty of options for the type of media you are scanning so that you get the best results such as newspaper, magazine, photo, glossy or matt and other options. You can easily change the size of the scanned image and choose how to manage it, such as saving it to a file, printing it immediately, (like a photocopier) or dealing with it in some other way, such as the text editing sofware options. I was very impressed by the results, as my friends scanners, that came with their PC's and cost a lot of money, which are good makes such as HP and Epson, could not produce images as good as mine in my opinion and were not as easy to use. I was able to edit the photo and the print it very easily. Newspapers tend to have lines and marks left in the image, but not with the Agfa Snapscan... Read review

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