Fujitsu ScanSnap S300

The ScanSnap S300 is, according to Fujitsu, the world’s smallest colour duplex scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF). In fact, it's small enough for the mobile professionals to carry in a briefcase if need be; yet with its relatively advanced scanning functionality, the S300 is also powerful enough to perform creditably in the office.

The ScanSnap S300 — which measures 28.4cm wide by 9.5cm deep by 7.7cm high and weighs 1.4kg — is designed for people who need to digitise documents such as receipts, bank statements, invoices or customer orders. It has a good range of features, including the ability to view PDFs with a thumbnail viewer, arrange files with simple drag-and-drop actions, as well as create searchable PDFs. The ScanSnap S300 can also scan business cards and postcards on thicker than normal media. The only significant downside is that it only scans to PDF: JPEGs are not supported.

The ScanSnap S300 is a joy to use. Offering fast 'one-touch' conversion of paper documents, you simply load a stack of up to 10 documents into the ADF and press the Scan button to produce searchable PDF files at speeds of up to 8ppm (pages per minute) for single-sided documents and 16ppm for double-sided documents. It automatically recognises the size of each document, detects and corrects for skew, and shows images in their proper orientation with blank pages removed. There’s even a range of modest automatic image correction features to ensure decent scanning results.

Inevitably, the technical specifications are modest compared to a desktop scanner, but they're good enough for mainstream business use. The ScanSnap S300 uses a CIS (Color Image Sensor) image sensor and 3-colour (RGB) LED light source. It offers an optical resolution of 600 by 600dpi, which is more than enough for text and general business materials. What the ScanSnap S300 is not, however, is a portable graphics studio. Supported source media include A4, A5, A6, B5, B6, business card, letter, legal and custom sizes (51x51mm up to 216x360mm, weighing 64-105g/m²).

The scanner can be powered from either a mains adapter or a USB connection (the PC needs two free USB ports; one for power and the other for data), allowing mobile professionals to scan paper documents on the go. Unfortunately the S300 doesn’t run on battery power, or have any internal memory for total computer autonomy. This is a missed opportunity, especially for customer-facing applications where booting a computer can be time consuming.

Fujitsu’s easy-to-use driver software lets you change settings for selecting applications, create searchable PDF files, choose paper sizes and modify image compression. There’s also a utility to transform business cards into editable information and then export that data to other contact managers, such as Microsoft’s Outlook. If you're scanning sensitive documents, you can even password-protect your PDFs. Scans can be perfromed in Normal (150dpi colour), Better (200dpi colour), Best (300dpi colour) or Excellent (600dpi colour) modes; you can also scan in black and white.

The ScanSnap S300 gives mobile professionals the ability to digitise documents almost instantly — as long as the host computer is booted, of course. This should help to protect critical business papers, and also ensure that no time is wasted when completing a business deal or making a sale. It’s also a handy solution for office workers who need to convert moderate volumes of documents into digital information quickly and easily. The quality of scanned images (colour photos in particular) and the accuracy of large amounts of editable text can be bettered by dedicated desktop units, but this device is all about mobility and convenience.

The ScanSnap S300 comes with a one-year warranty as standard. An optional 'Advance Exchange' service provides a replacement scanner prior to any malfunctioning unit being shipped back to Fujitsu.

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