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[ Go to March 1997 Table of Contents ]
WinLab Reviews
-- by Marc Spiwak
A scanner may be out of reach on a tight budget. But the $199 Interactive Efx PS Efx i Personal Scanning Kit puts scanning, OCR and copies at your fingertips. The TWAIN-compatible scanner is a black-and-white auto-feed model that can handle anything up to 8.5 inches wide, one sheet at a time. The scanner measures only 3.3 by 3.2 by 12.2 inches and includes a pass-through parallel cable. The TWAIN interface controls the scanner's resolution (up to 400 dots per inch), mode (256-gray, b/w normal, b/w turbo, halftone) and scan size. The application software comes on separate floppy disks; it would be easier if all three programs were on a CD-ROM. TypeReader Pro International scans text and saves it as a document. TypeReader Pro is easy to use, and averaged only two errors per page-mostly on uncommon words-in single-spaced 12-point Roman type. PrestoEfx handles images. Scanned images can be saved as bitmaps or sent to a printer, fax modem, new or existing document, image-editing program or e-mail. The scanner did a beautiful job of scanning a color photo-it's a pity the results are in black and white. Presto BizCard sorts information on scanned business cards into fields that you can (and usually must) edit. The Personal Scanning Kit is a versatile item to have in a small office. Unfortunately, there's nothing unique about it and it's monochrome only, so it does not make our WINDOWS Magazine Recommended List. In addition, color scanner prices are dropping rapidly-$349 buys our Recommended Logitech PageScan Color Pro.
Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc.
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