Best Scanners For At-Home Offices
Whether you call yourself a freelancer or run a small business, an at-home office needs to function like an office. Apart from a computer and a printer, scanners are essential for documenting important papers, invoices, receipts, and even ID cards. Some are exceptional at digitizing family photos; those don’t last forever, after all.
Scanners come in all shapes and sizes, however. So, depending on your needs, there’s a variety of scanners available that may suit your requirements.
Here are the best scanners for your home office.
1. Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600
Few scanners rise to the top, but the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 isn’t your average run-of-the-mill scanner. Due to its excellent performance and versatility, it’s one of the best scanners available no matter what your chosen vocation is.
For starters, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is quite easy to learn and understand thanks to a combination of obvious button labeling and its 4.3-inch touchscreen interface. In fact, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 includes customizable profiles, meaning you can simplify the interface even further as well as add or remove features that you won’t use or need quick access to.
Best of all, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 doesn’t need you to fiddle with a PC to get started. Documents, receipts, business cards, even photos—any compatible document can be scanned right on the spot and saved in your preferred cloud storage. Don’t have one? That’s okay! Fujitsu offers ScanSnap Cloud free of charge, available on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.
2. Raven Select Document Scanner
While the Raven Select Document Scanner may not be bursting at the seams with all manner of bells and whistles, it does however put its performance front and center. In return, you get a clean, no-nonsense scanner for your at-home office.
The Raven Select Document Scanner does exactly what you need a scanner to do: scan a variety of documents like receipts, ID cards, embossed cards, paper, business cards, documents, and even heavyweight paper. With its anti-jam 50-page feeder fully stocked, the scanner will easily scan 40 pages per minute without breaking a sweat.
What’s arguably the Raven Select Document Scanner’s best aspect is its versatility. It isn’t a very large machine, which makes it quite easy to find or make room for its placement. More importantly, both Windows and Mac can communicate with the Raven Select Document Scanner through a simple 3.0 USB connection.
3. Canon CanoScan Lide 400 Slim Scanner
What if you don’t need a scanner that can spit out papers at 40 or 50 papers per minute? What if you need a simple, yet effective scanner for casual use? In that case, you’ll love the Canon CanoScan Lide 400 Slim Scanner and its high-quality scans of photos, documents, fine print, and everything in between.
The Canon CanoScan Lide 400 Slim Scanner comes packed with a 4800 DPI resolution, meaning scans will capture phenomenal detail and color. In fact, this scanner also includes color restoration and dust removal to ensure something as precious as photos aren’t ruined during the scanning process.
In the event you need to scan something less conventional, the Canon CanoScan Lide 400 Slim Scanner has your back. Thanks to its floating hinge, you can raise the lid 21mm over the machine, sandwich something like a book in between, and the Canon CanoScan Lide 400 Slim Scanner will still scan!
4. Doxie Go SE
Scanners are great to have in your at-home office, even if you only use them occasionally, but what if your job requires you to leave? You certainly can’t just lug around a 20-pound machine for your scanning needs. Well, when your at-home office takes you into the field, go confidently with the Doxie Go SE.
At a mere 1.18 pounds, the Doxie Go SE is so easily portable. More importantly, it has a rechargeable battery and expandable storage, meaning it’s possible to scan multiple documents on the fly without ever connecting to a computer.
Best of all, the Doxie Go SE doesn’t skimp out on quality. Despite being much smaller than a typical scanner, it has a 600 DPI resolution which matches many fully-fledged scanners built for heavy use. In other words: the Doxie Go SE will be just as useful at home and on the go.
5. Epson Workforce ES-580W
The Epson Workforce ES-580W is a wonderfully efficient scanner capable of fulfilling a large number of scans automatically in a single minute. If you’re constantly scanning documents throughout the day, this is the perfect workhorse for the job.
For starters, the Epson Workforce ES-580W is very friendly with a wide range of devices such as Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, which is great to have if your main device is in the shop. You can quickly finish the scanning job using your mobile device over Wi-Fi or even scan directly to and from a USB flash drive as well as cloud storage.
What’s especially nice about having the Epson Workforce ES-580W at your disposal is the software. Do you constantly deal with handwriting? The software bundled inside is particularly good at digitizing handwriting and turning it into searchable keywords.
6. Brother DS-740D
There’s nothing worse than finding yourself desperately in need of a scanner, especially when you’re in an important meeting. If there’s any scanner that can fulfill an average workday in your at-home office and on the go, it’s the Brother DS-740D.
Weighing in at just 1.43 pounds and hardly wider than a sheet of paper, the Brother DS-740D can be easily stored in a travel bag, making it a great option for on-the-go scanning. While it doesn’t feature a rechargeable battery, the USB 3.0 cable that’s included for transferring data also powers the device.
Having a mobile option is great, but the Brother DS-740D is just as comfortable being your main scanner, especially if your at-home office is on the smaller size. You’ll have to feed the documents and invoices into the scanner yourself, but it processes quite fast for such a tiny machine at 16 pages per minute.
Q: What Does DPI Resolution Mean?
In the context of a scanner (and printers), DPI means “Dots Per Inch.” In other words: the higher the DPI, the better the quality of the scan and or print.
For simple operations like scanning documents, you’ll do just fine with a DPI resolution of 300. It’ll ensure text is dark and legible. As for photos, it depends on the size of the image; the larger the photo, the higher the DPI should be. A DPI resolution of 1200 and higher is acceptable for scanning photos.
Q: What is Duplex Scanning?
You’ll find that many scanners offer a feature called “duplex scanning.”
It’s just a fancy way of saying the machine will scan both sides in a single pass through, saving you the hassle of flipping the page over to scan the other side of documents. This is typically reserved for sheetfed scanners only; if you pick a flatbed scanner, it likely won’t have this feature.
Q: What Does PPM/IPM Mean?
One of the most important aspects of a scanner, and what you should be conscious of, is PPM and IPM.
PPM and IPM both determine the speed at which the machine scans; PPM is Pages Per Minute, whereas IPM is Images Per Minute. For example, if a scanner is rated for 16 PPM, then it can scan 16 pages in a single minute.
In practice, you’ll want a much higher PPM/IPM if you’re expecting to scan frequently, preferably a scanner that also has an ADF—an automatic document feeder so you don’t have to feed the machine manually.
