I am looking at purchasing a scanner for text and photo work evenly divided. Within reasonable limits, speed is not my main issue, but quality of photo scanning is.

Which is my best bet: HP ScanJet 5100Cse, or HP ScanJet 6200Cse? The 5100 DOES NOT have a USB port, the 6200 does. How much, if anything do I lose with a serial port set up? Price is $228 for the 5100, and $399 for the 6200. Any other significant differences?

Should I be looking at another scanner for quality and price? Thanks for any advice.

-- Jack Clark (medici_1@hotmail.com), February 25, 1999

Answers

Actually, the 5100 is probably parallel port, not serial (Serial would be WAY too slow.) USB will probably be moderately faster than parallel, but not likely a dramatic difference. Hard to say about specifics other than that: We haven't tested flatbed scanners yet at all. Personally, I use an older UMAX unit, and have been very satisfied with it. Maybe check some of the magazine sites (C|Net, PC Magazine, etc), see if you can find any reprints of reviews.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), March 05, 1999.

I do have a 5100C at work and at home. It is a solid product, as I expected from H.P., it has a parallel interface and internally has a built in SCSI module. It is a good product. You can take it with you to a friend or family's and easily interface to the parallel port of their PC and use the scanner, you do not have to install interface card of SCSI or any other type. Also HP has a new 5200C scanner, you have a choice of USB or parallel with 5200C, check it out, it is priced at $299, you won't be disapointed with the HP product quality.

-- Fred (tabarrok@ariver.com), March 05, 1999.

I just upgraded from the 5100 to the 6200 and there is a vast improvement in both speed from the USB port and quality. A recent review by PC Magazine rated the 6200 1st in quality and the 5100 9th. I agree, there is a definate difference which is worth the price of the 6200

-- Lurch (lurchtt@aol.com), April 02, 1999.

I bought a HP ScanJet 6200Cse for $90 in egghead.com (auctions)

-- carliux (gustabaf@hotmail.com), November 25, 2000.