HP ScanJet 4500C

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Fast
Colour sensitivity	Good
Resolution	Excellent
Ease of Installation	Excellent - very quick and easy
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Looks, OCR software, speed
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Thanks in advance for reading this review and like my previous hardware reviews I will try and communicate the technical specifications whilst making it readable for the average user wanting to seek advice and make a purchasing decision.

I have been using this scanner fairly regularly for about six months now and feel it represents good value for money. When I purchased it from a small local computer store I paid £159.99 although it is now available cheaper. For best prices search on the Internet or for convenience, check in to PC World where it is still available on the shelves at the time of writing. (December 2003.)

I am more swayed in purchasing decisions by features than looks when it comes to computer hardware but this was one of those joint looks and features decisions. Let’s take a look at the individual elements that go to make up this scanner.

WHAT IS IT?
This is a flatbed scanner. This means it takes up a fair amount of desk space, slightly more than laying out an A4 piece of paper. It uses reflection of light to scan a piece of paper and present it digitally on your computer screen. This means you can create a slideshow of those old photographs from before your digital camera arrived. You can also photocopy documents using your computer and even take a page of typed text and convert it into a Microsoft Word document for editing.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
This is the boring bit so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t need this!
This scanner has a resolution of 2400dpiX2400dpi and 48 bit colour. Realistically this means it can scan at a detail far more than any but the most serious professional user would want or need. I set my default to a significantly lower resolution otherwise the file sizes are huge. The scanner connects to the computer through a supplied USB lead. The scanner is USB2.0 and therefore if your computer also has this facility the communication is quicker. If your computer is the older USB1.0 don’t panic though as the scanner will still work, just not at it’s fastest speed.
The scanner will work with any version of Windows from 98 upwards and I use it with Windows XP with no problems at all. It will also work with MAC OS9.1 or higher so it is a versatile piece of hardware.

USABILITY
I prefer this to my previous scanner for the simple reason it opens along the long edge. A simple design characteristic that took years to conceptualise but really makes it easier to place a scanner on the desk. As it opens along the long side it now fits neatly under the shelf on my computer desk and still allows me to open the scanner sufficiently to insert and remove paper.
There are seven buttons along the front and as with most scanner buttons you will hardly ever use them, most of the time resorting to software for the tasks you are doing. There is a certain amount of flexibility with some of the buttons however and I do use one for a low resolution scan and print (like a photocopy in essence). This is quite handy to just copy documents. In this respect the scanner is easy to use. Obviously as with all scanners a certain amount of computer knowledge is required when working with file sizes. Do not scan on high resolutions unless you have more hard drive space than atoms in your body! The top resolution on this scanner is pointlessly high and generates massive file sizes … hundreds of megabytes. Generally a far lower resolution is more than adequate. Higher resolution does help with colour matching however and if I’m digitising photographs I do scan at a higher resolution and then reduce by working through a graphics package. (I use Paint Shop Pro but other packages do similar things.)
The most useful feature to me is the quick preview. Most scanners include this but on this scanner it really is quick. It claims to be seven seconds on the box and who am I to argue.

SOFTWARE
The software included is a peach to use and really does add to the value for money of this scanner. Called ‘HP Photo and Imaging’ (a catchy title that I bet had the marketing boys working overnight for many days!) it allows quick and easy access to the configurations you will need for scanning. It also includes some presets including black and white photocopy, colour photocopy and text.
The software suite also includes an impressive OCR utility (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is the software that takes a page of typed text and recognises the characters for conversion to a word processor document.) My previous OCR software bundled with my last scanner was so unreliable I never used it. This stuff works though. It is fairly impressive and extremely handy if you need to edit a typewritten piece of paper. Simply scan, OCR software and then up pops Microsoft Word with the document ready for editing. There are rarely mistakes so long as the printout is a reasonable quality and the paper is not crumpled. I would say it is about a 98% accuracy for most documents.
The manual that comes with the scanner is detailed but readable and soon had me mastering the elements of the software that I most needed. The index is also quite comprehensive which means finding information and answers to questions is quick and easy.

OVERALL
This scanner represents good value for money. Available now for thirty to forty pounds less than I paid possibly even exceptional value for money. The range of features is huge and many lie unused. I have for example no need to scan straight to my web site. I prefer to scan, work with the image and then publish to web. It also has a ludicrously high resolution that would suit only the most die hard techno freak image editor. Overall I would definitely recommend this to friends as it does the job well and looks quite elegant on my desk. I haven’t even needed to use the years warranty supplied.

Thanks again for reading and if you have any comments, please do leave them.