Standalone Scanner for MacBook

[Zameus]

Hello all! New member here and I just puurchased a new MacBook Pro. I would like to know if someon could kindly recommend a standalone scanner (no printer feature). I'm looking for a scanner with a feed feature for 50 sheets or so, robust, and must be able to create PDFs on a Mac w/ the Lion Operating System. Your help in searching such a device is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[flynz4]

Hello all! New member here and I just puurchased a new MacBook Pro. I would like to know if someon could kindly recommend a standalone scanner (no printer feature). I'm looking for a scanner with a feed feature for 50 sheets or so, robust, and must be able to create PDFs on a Mac w/ the Lion Operating System. Your help in searching such a device is greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M is the gold standard of Mac scanners. I use mine with DevonThink Pro Office which is equally impressive.

I also have a Xerox professional flatbed scanner (with sheet loader) on top of my color laser printer... but it pales in comparison to the ScanSnap.

/Jim

 

[Zameus]

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M is the gold standard of Mac scanners. I use mine with DevonThink Pro Office which is equally impressive.

I also have a Xerox professional flatbed scanner (with sheet loader) on top of my color laser printer... but it pales in comparison to the ScanSnap.

/Jim

PERFECT! This is exactly what I needed. Thank you very much for your reply flynz4!

 

[spacepower7]

I have the scansnap 1300 (which I think works on both Mac and PC) that has been very reliable.

I think the 1500M comes with a copy of adobe acrobat ( probably an older one) for OCR.

The 1300 comes with abbyy finereader OCR. The only issue I have with this ( the quality is great) is that you can't download their software, you need the original CD. You can download everything from the Fujitsu website except the abbyy OCR software.

That means I would be a few days with a useless scanner if I lost the original install CD, dealing with customer service.

So first thing to do, just in case is make copies of the install CDs.

 

[flynz4]

So first thing to do, just in case is make copies of the install CDs.

A few years ago I bought a couple of dozen plastic "portfolio" boxes that are about 1" thick, hinged, and hold full sized sheets of paper. Every time I buy a new major piece of equipment, I label a box, and put all the ancillary crap into it. I have a whole rack of these across the bottom a bookshelf. I haven't lost an installation CD (or anything else) since.

Of course... installation CDs are becoming increasingly rare... but there still are manuals, receipts, extra cables, etc that I do not want to lose.

/Jim

 

[jbrettz]

Highly recommend the scansnap 1500M. I have heard great things about DevonThink Pro, but have not made the job to that.

brett

 

[ByronicLion]

For those with the scansnap s1300, does this software that comes with it make it easy to put all of the scanned files into one pdf? Or is that something you have to do manually with another program like preview.

 

[Mojo1]

If you scan a bunch of stacked pages they will be made part of a single PDF. If you scan pages separately for some reason then simply combine them in Preview.

The Fujitsu scanners are awesome; I've been using the S1300 for almost a year. Don't even bother looking at the competition; I did a careful review and the Fujitsu easily won the race.

I also second the DEVONthink recommendation. It is simply the most powerful database app out there. I've used DT for around five years and it has never given me a lick of trouble. I do biomedical research and regularly ingest Web pages, PDFs, scanned articles... you name it. I currently have around 3,000 studies and articles in DT. No way could I manage or get full use of all that data using a Finder-based filing system. DT's artificial intelligence is the key to DT's sophisticated search functions. It can also display almost any file type without having to open other applications.

The main difference between DT Personal and DT Pro and Pro office is the ability to create and open multiple databases. The primary differences between Pro and Office is that you can archive most e-mail, Office has a built-in server and you can scan directly to Office via a Fujitsu scanner.

I don't need e-mail archiving (it doesn't work with GyazMail anyway...) and I don't need to scan directly to DT. There are myriad ways to move documents into DT so I don't see the point unless you plan on scanning a ton of docs that will ultimately wind up in DT anyway. The reason I upgraded to Pro is for the multiple databases.

Devon technologies is close to introducing a syncing system that will allow syncing of databases across multiple Macs. That will be icing on the cake for an incredible program that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

DEVONthink has a 150 hour demo period. The excellent "Take Control of DEVONthink 2.0" is a must-have for getting up and running quickly while taking full advantage of everything DT has to offer. If you don't require the features in the Pro versions the Personal version is an excellent deal. DEVONthink is regularly available at a discount in Mac bundles and every year around Thanksgiving it is available at a 25% discount.

 

[flynz4]

If you scan a bunch of stacked pages they will be made part of a single PDF. If you scan pages separately for some reason then simply combine them in Preview.

The Fujitsu scanners are awesome; I've been using the S1300 for almost a year. Don't even bother looking at the competition; I did a careful review and the Fujitsu easily won the race.

I also second the DEVONthink recommendation. It is simply the most powerful database app out there. I've used DT for around five years and it has never given me a lick of trouble. I do biomedical research and regularly ingest Web pages, PDFs, scanned articles... you name it. I currently have around 3,000 studies and articles in DT. No way could I manage or get full use of all that data using a Finder-based filing system. DT's artificial intelligence is the key to DT's sophisticated search functions. It can also display almost any file type without having to open other applications.

The main difference between DT Personal and DT Pro and Pro office is the ability to create and open multiple databases. The primary differences between Pro and Office is that you can archive most e-mail, Office has a built-in server and you can scan directly to Office via a Fujitsu scanner.

I don't need e-mail archiving (it doesn't work with GyazMail anyway...) and I don't need to scan directly to DT. There are myriad ways to move documents into DT so I don't see the point unless you plan on scanning a ton of docs that will ultimately wind up in DT anyway. The reason I upgraded to Pro is for the multiple databases.

Devon technologies is close to introducing a syncing system that will allow syncing of databases across multiple Macs. That will be icing on the cake for an incredible program that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

DEVONthink has a 150 hour demo period. The excellent "Take Control of DEVONthink 2.0" is a must-have for getting up and running quickly while taking full advantage of everything DT has to offer. If you don't require the features in the Pro versions the Personal version is an excellent deal. DEVONthink is regularly available at a discount in Mac bundles and every year around Thanksgiving it is available at a 25% discount.

Very nice post.

Nearly 100% of my scanning is directly into DevonThink Pro Office. My main usage is to have a paperless home... so nearly everything that we care to save gets scanned and shredded. The only major exception is any official paperwork such as those with official seals... which get scanned and filed.

/Jim