[geeks] Scanner recommendations?

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Phil Stracchino wrote ...
> Mike Hebel wrote:
> > If all Geeks threw away equipment because of a noise it 
> > makes no one would
> > ever own a large RAID array or boot up a real server in 
> > their house. ;-)
> 
> To be fair, there's a difference between noisy hardware in 
> your machine 
> room, and noisy hardware sitting next to you on your desk...

There's noise, and then there's noise.  Some kinds of noise are really
irritating (the jackass in the next cube checking his voicemail via
speakerphone), while another (your favorite song on the radio) might be
soothing, even if louder.

I've got a cheap-ass Epson DX-4450 printer/scanner/copier here, and, to
no-one's surprise, it sounds cheap.  Printing is so-so.  Scanning software
is clunky.  The scanning image quality is so-so, but v.e.r.y. s.l.o.w.  I
can't imagine it would last long enough to do an office full of paper, it
just doesn't sound sturdy.

On the other hand, the Canon F-50 we have back in the States is top-notch.
It's an all-in-one (printer/copier/scanner/fax), the scanning is quick and
easy, you can scan directly to e-mail, the software is OK, ink for the thing
is reasonable, etc.  It wasn't cheap at all, though.

-Shel