scansnap s1500

[Robalb]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.
I am using Mountain Lion on 21.5 imac and want to get a sheet feeder scanner. The most recommended appears to be the scansnap s1500. In the UK Fujitsy sell two models - one for pc and one for mac. The appear to be pretty much the same except for the software. more expensive than the pc scansnap.
The mac scansnap is about £150 m
The Mac version comes with Acobat Pro 9 but I already have Acrobat Pro 10. The rest of the software ocr and some kind of document management can be handled with acrobat and other more mac programmes.
So the question is will the pc package also have the mac drivers or can they be obtained? And then will it work happily with acrobat pro 10?
Has anyone any experience of this?

 

[flynz4]

My brother is the one who got me started on Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M. He had the black PC one... and raved about it. I agree with him that it is a fantastic scanner.

When he switched from PC to Mac... he tried to get his black scanner working, and was never able to. He ended up selling his PC model and buying the white model for his Mac.

At least at that time, he could not get the Mac version of the software. I'm not too sure if that has changed since.

/Jim

 

[Robalb]

Thanks flynz4.

When did your brother switch? I ask because on the UK apple shop someone left the answer that,

Yes, the software is downloadable from the fujitsu website. The scanners are the same, just the mac ones are white in color. You can mix and match without problems.
Answered 26-Oct-2010

and on the Fujitsu site it has drivers for s1500/s1500M.

I appreciate that all the supporting software
ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap and CardMinder will not work but I can live without CardMinder and Acrobat Pro 10 isn't bad for ocr.
It appears that ScanSnap Organizer isn't available for the mac anyway.

 

[sjhwilkes]

They used to lock out the PC model from running the Mac software, but they haven't for a few years now.
I have the PC model and the Snansnap Mac software is available to download on their website.
Acrobat is the only reason to pay the extra - which is kind of fair as the Mac version of Acrobat is so much more expensive.

 

[flynz4]

Thanks flynz4.

When did your brother switch? I ask because on the UK apple shop someone left the answer that

It was a few years ago (probably 2010)... so Fujitsu has probably changed their policy.

/Jim

 

[Robalb]

thanks

Thank you flynz4 and sjhwilkes,
that's very helpful.

 

[misterbig]

My black Scansnap S1100 has worked with my MacBook Air since i bought it a year ago, so I would imagine the black S1500 would work with Macs as well.

 

[Robalb]

Well I was just about to order the scansnap 1500 when I saw the new replacement scansnap ix500 which is described as compatible with mac and had a few positive preview comments.

I have bought one and just to report that both it and the software with it work like a dream. I have nothing to compare it to but the few comments I have read suggest it is better than the 1500 and it certainly is fast, has a very small desk footprint and looks very neat.

Other than the scanning speed its big advantage for me is that it does background ocr so that all the pdfs it produces are searchable.

 

[blesscheese]

Well I was just about to order the scansnap 1500 when I saw the new replacement scansnap ix500 which is described as compatible with mac and had a few positive preview comments.

I have bought one and just to report that both it and the software with it work like a dream. I have nothing to compare it to but the few comments I have read suggest it is better than the 1500 and it certainly is fast, has a very small desk footprint and looks very neat.

Other than the scanning speed its big advantage for me is that it does background ocr so that all the pdfs it produces are searchable.

That's good to know! Thanks for posting the update.

I have an older model...fast as heck, but the OCR-ing is slow. So old I can't remember the model, but they supported it all the way from 10.3 Panther to 10.8 Mountain Lion. They said there won't be any more updates for it, so it looks like I'll have to get a replacement sometime...

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Also have one of the new ones, works awesome. Very fast and no lag on my iMac.

 

[flynz4]

Well I was just about to order the scansnap 1500 when I saw the new replacement scansnap ix500 which is described as compatible with mac and had a few positive preview comments.

I have bought one and just to report that both it and the software with it work like a dream. I have nothing to compare it to but the few comments I have read suggest it is better than the 1500 and it certainly is fast, has a very small desk footprint and looks very neat.

Other than the scanning speed its big advantage for me is that it does background ocr so that all the pdfs it produces are searchable.

I spent some time looking at the new model at CES. It is a bit faster than the S1500M and it is also both PC/Mac compatible. The only downside is that it no longer ships with Adobe Acrobat... but many will not need that.

/Jim