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Review: Hewlett Packard ScanJet 7400C flatbed scanner

Toronto Star Fast Forward column for May 10, 2001

Copyright ©, Myles White, 2001 All rights reserved

When I bought Hewlett Packard's ScanJet 6300C early last year, I wish I'd known what was coming. 

The company's newest generation of scanners represented by the 7400C has everything I wanted then and couldn't get at a reasonable price. 

Let's start with speed. Typically, scanning a full-colour 8x10 photo at around 300 dots per inch with the 6300C could take over a minute - nearly two if you count the time it takes for the HP scanner driver, Precision Scan Pro 2.0, to come up on screen and for the scanner to "warm up" its lamp. The 7400C and the latest revision of Precision Scan, 3.0, accomplished the same task in under 30 seconds. 

It's quick. 

Then there's the scan bed itself. I've written before, despairingly, that the modern trend in flatbed scanners is to 11-inch long scan beds - the seemingly universally adopted length for the generation of less-expensive models. The 7400C series reverses the trend; the 14-inch scan bed is back. And all these features, plus a new standard of colour depth (more below), is at roughly the same price as the now-older 6300C series when it first hit the streets (list price $749, online retail prices as low as $669).

Raw specs... 

The ScanJet 7400C is one of three "7000-series" models and the only one I tested. The other two, the 7450C and 7490C, include a 50-page automatic document feeder (an optional extra for the 7400C). The 7450C includes the "Pro" version of the IRIS optical character recognition application (the 7400C gets a "lite" version). The 7490 comes with image-stitching software for objects larger than the scan bed, CorelDraw 9, and a SCSI (small computer systems interface) adapter kit. 

List price in Canada for the 7450C is $1,049 and it's $1,499.99 for the 7490C (hint: if you don't need or want the extra software, a SCSI adapter good enough to get the most out of the 7400C is a heck of lot less than the difference). 

All three models share the following specifications: 

Dual sensor heads. One "staggered" charge coupled device (CCD) sensor array produces 2400 dot-per-inch optical resolution (for slides, negatives, and other scans requiring extremely high resolution). A second CCD array is used for 600 dpi (or lower) scans. 

Using interpolation (where "missing" pixel values are estimated) provided by the scanner's driver, HP says there is no upper limit to software resolution. 

48-bit colour, supported by both the hardware and software driver. Your application software is unlikely to handle more than 24 bits (16.7 million shades), but the idea here is that both the hardware and software driver look for the 16.7 million "purest" shades, then discard the rest. High bit-depth is also used to enhance shadows. The company doesn't say how many bits are applied to monochrome scans. 

Connectivity via either SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) or Universal Serial Bus (USB). All of my tests, and any of the scan rates posted at HP's Web sites in Canada and the US were derived using a SCSI connection. 

Unlike the earlier, 2.0, version of Precision Scan, Precision Scan 3.0 is fully compatible with both Windows Me and Windows 2000. There's also a Mac driver. There is an update to Precision Scan Pro 2.x available from HP's US Web site (www.hp.com). 

As with most of the new generation of desktop scanners, the 7400C series is festooned with front-panel buttons allowing you to scan directly to e-mail (your choice of picture or document), to fax, or to file. Additional buttons and HP's included direct copy software let you use the scanner as a direct-to-printer photocopier – and a front-panel LCD window, plus the appropriate buttons, let you choose not only the number of copies, but also whether the original is colour or black and white. 

You can also invoke the Precision Scan Pro application from the front panel or send a document directly to the OCR engine for editing. Like Precision Scan Pro 2.0, the newest version interrogates your system to find applications to which you can send scans directly. And, just like the earlier version, it appears to be a hit-and-miss proposition that doesn't find all TWAIN compatible products you may already have. 

I wish they'd fix this. 

Once you have an image on the bed and a section of it selected through the Precision Scan driver, you can scale it up or down from 10 to 2,000 per cent (depending on resolution). 

If you have patience and slides, transparencies (up to 4 by 6 inches), or negatives, all three models come with what HP calls an "Active Transparency Adapter," otherwise known as the ScanJet XPA. It plugs into the back of the scanner on a short tether and provides top light. Unfortunately, it's not the easiest device in the world to use - not because it or the software driver are complicated - but because its connection point, along with SCSI or USB and power input, are buried under a long shelf at the back of the scanner. There's virtually no way to connect its small, round canon connector by feel. I literally wound up picking up the scanner and holding it front-down and sideways under one arm while fiddling with the connector. (Yes, HP, I locked the sensor array first). 

Because of the long scan bed, the 7400 series takes up a bit more room on your desktop than an 11-inch model would. It's 22.63 in. long (575 mm), 12.25 in. wide (311 mm), and 4.50 in. high (115 mm). Picking it up wasn't a major problem; it weighs just 9.8 lbs (4.4 kg).

Software bundle... 

I've already noted that the top-of-the-line model comes with the older CorelDRAW 9 suite, but even the base model comes with several interesting applications for both PC and Mac. 

On the PC side, you get the aforementioned copy utility, as well as a network driver for sharing the scanner, Precision Scan Pro 3.0, integrated OCR, and something HP calls "Share to Web." There's also Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0, Corel PrintOffice 2000, ScanSoft OmniForm (form scanning), Boomerang Internet DesignShop Gold 2000 (Web design, full of registration nagware and commercials), Iris Cardiris 2.0 (business card organizer OCR software), and Anark Emotion 3-D Web animation software (which is fun to use). 

Mac users get Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8 (image-editor and management software), Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.05, Scansoft Paperport 5.5 (document-management software), and Iris Readiris Pro 6.0 (OCR).

You'll also need... 

Minimum system requirements for a PC include either a SCSI adapter or Windows 98 or above and at least one powered USB port, a Pentium 90 or better (150 MHz or better running Windows Me, or 166 MHz for Windows 2000, or NT 4.0), 90 MB of free disk space for Precision Scan Pro and a further 380 MB for the remaining utilities and third-party software, 32 MB of memory for Windows 98 or Me, and 64 MB for 2000 or NT 4.0. Mac users will need MacOS 8.5 or better, USB or SCSI port, 64 MB of memory ("or more") and 15 MB of disk space for the minimum software installation.

Bottom line... 

Well, I've already said I wished I'd waited, but like most other fantasies, this one borders on downright silly. I've had quite a productive 18 months with the 6300C and no complaints about either its performance or the quality of its output. I'm going to send the 7400C back to HP quickly, though; I don't want to get used to its speed. 

I still see the 6300C offered for sale (and at a wider variety of places, too) with online prices starting under $600, which means you should be able to find it at storefront outlets for even less. For now, however, I'm comfortable knowing that when the 6300C finally goes to heaven (probably many years from now), there'll be all that speed available when I'm ready to trade up.

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