Superb at a superb price too! (HP Scanjet 3300C)

Member Name: mneedham

Product:	HP Scanjet 3300C
Date:	10/03/01 (1904 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant copying at a low price

Disadvantages: Bit slow at times

When I decided to purchase a scanner, I asked some friends with scanners for recommendations and did some comparisons for myself. Hewlett Packard was one name that was mentioned several times. I only wanted it for my own basic home use. I mainly use it only to scan photographs to e-mail to friends and family and for my webpage. I didn't want to pay a huge amount because of this.

I's put off buying a scanner for a long time. I was a little afraid of getting one because I'd used a couple before that were very complicated. Also, several people I know have had a lot of troubles with theirs. I finally decided to bite the bullet and chose the Hewlett Packard Scan Jet 3300. The sale price of £100 as well as the features were exactly what I was looking for.

When I got it home and out of the box, I was very surprised at how easy it was to connect and set up on my own computer. It only took a few minutes for me, with no problems at all, even though the instructions weren't terribly detailed. All that is required is to plug it into the wall and plug one cable into the USB port on your computer. The port is labelled clearly on my computer's harddrive, so that wasn't a problem. The software is quickly loaded. Just pop in the included CDs and follow the on-screen instructions.

I had my first picture scanned and edited within a more few minutes. The Hewlett Packard Scan Jet 3300 doesn't have an on/off switch (yes, it took me a few minutes to figure that one out <grin>). You simply put your photo or document onto the glass and close the lid. You can either push the blue button on the front of the scanner to start your scan. After a few minutes, the scanned item automatically appears on the screen in the Hewlett Packard Precision Scan software. At that point, you have a number of options. You can crop it or re-size the photo right there. You can save it as an image or internet file. You can send it into Paint or Outlook Expre
ss. You can save it as a variety of formats, including jpgs, bmps, and gifs.

Also, from scanned screen, you can send it into Adobe Photo Deluxe 3.0. Adobe is the included photo editing software. With Adobe, you can do a number of things to your photo. You can fix red eyes. You can lighten or brighten and sharpen the photo. You can also use also use Adobe to create cards, calendars, labels, and some other things with your photographs. It's fun to play with the graphics!

All included software is easy to use to edit your pictures. It does take a few tries to get your photos exactly like you want them to appear, but once you've got that done, it takes just a few seconds to get your photo scanned and edited just like you want it. for e-mail or webpages, I recommend playing around with the various resolutions in order to find out how quickly you can make your pictures download without sacrificing quality. Don't we all hate slow loading webpages! After you've edited it, you save it either onto your computer or onto a disk, and your scanned pictures are ready to be sent into e-mail or printed out.

I'm sure more expensive scanners have a higher quality output as well as work faster, but this one is excellent for my own home use. If you are scanning a great quantity of items or if you need a higher quality output, I'd recommend going for a more expensive model with more features. But, if you simply need a quality scanner to use for photos online, I recommend the Hewlett Packard Scan Jet 3300. It's inexpensive, it's simple to use, and the output is excellent.

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