Good news fellow road warriors, a powerful new weapon has been added to our arsenal. Now we can readily conquer the paper monster and rapidly scan full color documents into our notebook computers, without having to carry heavy, bulky hardware. The Antec Color Scanner weighs 12.7 oz., with dimensions of 1.97 inches long, 11.1 inches wide and 1.46 inches high. It comes with its own carrying case and does not require batteries or a separate power supply. It easily fits into my laptop case and is a wonderful tool to fax, e-mail or import documents into the computer while on the road. Any time or place that you can use your notebook, you can use this scanner. It attaches to the USB Port on and draws its power from the USB cable. Yes, it works with desktops also. It is fully twain compliant and is a 300X600 dpi color scanner that can handle paper sizes ranging from business cards to legal (8X14 inches) with thicknesses from 0.8 through 1mm. Scanning time for a standard sheet of black and white at 300dpi is 20 seconds. For an 8.5X11 inch 24-bit true color, 300dpi image, the scanning time is 60 seconds. This scanner is rugged; it is designed to be portable.

There is a full software suite supplied on two CD-ROM’s that include, ReadIris Pro OCR and MGI PhotoSuite SE graphic editing software. This is all you need to handle just about any document. Image formats supported are: JPEG, GIF, TIFF and BMP. Twain compliance means that it is compatible with any other Twain software product that you may already have. So if you have a favorite graphics program that is Twain compatible, you may use it.

The installation is straightforward. Insert the CD, run SETUP and follow the screen instructions. Connect the Attaché to the USB port. The well illustrated, multi language manual shows the installation steps on a screen-by-screen basis, so you will always know what to expect and there will be no installation surprises. From Page Manager, or other Twain compliant software, select the Antec Twain Control Panel as the source. Click Acquire, then the Calibration page. Insert the calibration sheet into the scanner. You are now ready to use the Attaché.

Now whenever you click ACQUIRE, and you select the Attaché, you will have a choice of 5 scanning modes. FAX, E-Mail, OCR, Photo or Magazine. Select the mode compatible with that which you wish to scan and you are in business. It is actually much more intuitive, hence simpler than the description may imply. There is also a custom setting, should any of these 5 modes not suit your purpose.

I had no trouble at all installing to my Dell notebook as well as my desktop and the results speak for themselves.

The Attaché is priced at $99.95 retail and is available at all major computer outlets and on line at the Antec web site.

This is a tremendously capable a versatile tool for road warriors and its negligible weight and small size make it easy to carry with you. This is a must for all those who have a need to acquire documents and images on the road and send them elsewhere in an expeditious manner. For those who exhibit at trade shows and need to scan forms, documents or graphics, this is a superb tool. It is ideal for desktop applications where real estate on the actual working surface is at a premium. It is also a wonderful back up for the prime desktop scanner.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 99.95
Interface: USB