HP ScanJet 4300Cse & 7400c Scanners

Hewlett-Packard has positioned itself squarely in the computer imaging arena. From cameras to scanners, the company has made documents and digital imaging cost-effective and user-friendly - for the home, the home office and the small business. Its 7400c ($499) is a prime example of the strides HP has made. It operates with either a USB or SCSI connection. It scans color at 48-bit depth, and can scan up to legal-sized documents at 2400 dpi. The automatic document feeder can speed the scanning process to 15 pages per minute, with scans able to be previewed in as little as four seconds. Software includes the ReadIRIS optical scanning software, which can turn letters and other printed text into digitized, editable data - a must for any office that hopes to become "paperless." The XPA transparency / slide adapter for scanning transparencies or print photo negatives.

In the interest of simplicity, HP has turned to one-button controls on many of its units, and the 7400 is no different - with one-touch scanning and destination controls. Start a function or send to a destination by touching the appropriate button on the face plate (email, scan, copy, file, scan documents [OCR] or launch the HP scanning software). Compare Prices



If the 7400c is ideal for the small business, the 4300Cse ($99) is decidedly for the home and emerging home office. It's certainly feature rich, with 36-bit color at 600 dpi (9600 dpi enhanced resolution), front panel three-button control for scanning, color or black and white copying and emailing. At 17 seconds a page, it creeps along. But it's a simple unit to use, with software including the HP Precision Scan LTX scanning software, Corel Print House 2000, Adobe ActiveShare image management and Internet sharing applications. Like the 7400, it offers fully integrated OCR capabilities and the ScanJet copy utility, as well as Trellix Web personal Web site creation software; ArcSoft PhotoFantasy and PhotoMontage for fantasy backgrounds on scanned images.

It even comes with USP and parallel interface for older model computers (system requirements: PC Pentium 90 MHz [166 MHz for Windows 2000 professional], 32 megs of RAM and 300 megs disk space. But unlike the 7400, the 4300 can scan documents no larger than 8.5" by 11.7", and doesn't include the XPA transparency unit.

While limited on the features, the 4300 is perfect for the emerging computer family or the growing small business. Between the two, cost effective scanning is a clear reality for the small business or home/office. Compare Prices

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.