HP 4C 10/10

The HP 4C is one of the great scanners of the last century! Boasting a native 600 dpi resolution and 2400 dpi interpolated it is still by today's standards a fine scanner. Newer HP models do however offer an amazing native optical 2400 dpi! The HP 4C comes with an ISA SCSI adapter. I use it with a PCI 2940U2W interface and it is far better than the supplied ISA interface. The supplied programmes include Adobe Photoshop LE which is good for amateur users, but you can upgrade to the full version for a special price.

Using the standard TWAIN interface the HP 4C can be used from most imaging applications. The Deskscan software is easy to use, and you can change the settings like resolution and brightness. The preview scan is quick and automatically determines what settings it should use for the final scan (however, high resolution settings need to be put in manually). Most of the time 150 dpi or 300 dpi is about right. You only need to scan in items at 600 dpi if you wish to enlarge them considerably to print on A4 or larger. Thankfully, HP supplies drivers for this scanner even for new operating systems like Win2000. It is a pity that many manufacturers no longer update their drivers like HP, forcing users to buy newer products. I've been using this scanner for over 6 years, and there has never been a problem with it, so why would I want to change it. If you use it alot though, you do need to change the bulb. The build quality is outstanding like most other HP products. It feels like one rock solid piece of granite. True, it was more expensive than its' competitors when we bought it, but given that it has lasted a long time without requiring additional expense, I can safely say it has been value for money. There is also a strange HP Jukebox application which works on most HP scanners. It plays music on you scanner, by moving the bulb back on forth, if you have an HP scanner you should download it just for fun. It is limited to a screeching sound, but you can actually tell which melody the scanner is playing.

The current range of HP scanners has a lot to live up to. Lets hope that the current crop of HP scanners will still be around and working in 6 years time.