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HP Scanjet 3300C Scanner Review
HP Scanjet 3300C Scanner Review - PCSTATS
With all the hype surrounding ultra high resolution digital cameras these days, it's rather easy to miss out on the latest advancements in scanner technology. Digital cameras are very useful for taking web based photos, but cannot do much for pictures already taken with a film based camera. For these tasks, nothing beats a scanner.
 85% Rating:   
Filed under: Imaging Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: HP Oct 05 2000   D. Deveaux  
Home > Reviews > Imaging > HP Scanjet 3300C

HP Scanjet 3300C Scanner Review


With all the hype surrounding ultra high resolution digital cameras these days, it's rather easy to miss out on the latest advancements in scanner technology. Digital cameras are very useful for taking web based photos, but cannot do much for pictures already taken with a film based camera. For these tasks, nothing beats a scanner.

I'm sure many of us can remember the early days of computer scanners. Unless money was no object, flatbed scanners were typically out of reach (often costing thousands of dollars). Instead, consumer level scanners were often small, hand held units that scanned 256 shades of grey (although some could handle color). These scanners were fairly difficult to use, because in order to scan most objects, a steady hand was required. Even a slight deviation from a straight line could ruin an otherwise decent scan.

Thankfully, as with nearly everything else with computers, things have changed. Flatbeds have improved in quality and speed, while plummeting in price. Today, it's not uncommon to find scanners costing $100 or less (in US dollars). These scanners typically have adequate resolution and speed for consumer use, and some offer unique benefits such as one touch scanning buttons and user friendly image editing software. With this in mind, we'll be taking a look at one such scanner manufactured by Hewlett Packard; the Scanjet 3300C. With a suggested price of $99 $129, it is clearly a candidate for the "value" category. As we'll see, this particular scanner does indeed meet the requirements of value scanners, while providing several extras useful to the user.

Features and Specifications

Scanning Type: Flatbed, color
Optical Scanning Resolution: 600 dpi
Max. Scanning Resolution: 9600 dpi
Color Processing: 36 bit
Max Scan Size: 8.5 x 11.7 inches
Connectivity: USB
Automatic Document Feeder: None
Dimensions (W x D x H): 10 × 18 × 4 inches
Weight: 7.7 lb
Scan Speed:
90 secs: 4 × 6 in color photo to MS Word
180 secs: OCR letter size B/W text to MS Word
150 secs: B/W line art to MS Word

In the past year, many manufacturers have opted for the USB port rather than parallel or SCSI based connections. USB offers a significant speed advantage over parallel, and is often much easier to configure than SCSI (just plug it in, load the drivers, and play). Considering this model is targeted at first time buyers, the decision to go with USB was definitely a wise choice by HP. As for resolution, the key value to note is the optical scanning resolution.

This resolution is what the scanner sees natively, and should be used as a baseline when comparing similar priced units. Going above this resolution (600 dots per inch in this case) will result in interpolation, which in many cases can degrade the quality of the image (since the hardware or software "guesses" at the extra pixels by analyzing the pixels around a specific area).

One thing not mentioned in the above specifications is the inclusion of two buttons on the front of the scanner. These buttons allow for one touch scanning operation, and are user programmable. The defaults are for initiating a scan and to copy an image (from the scanner to a printer). Both rely on Windows 98's Still Image Monitoring utility (STIMON.EXE), which is enabled on startup after installing the HP drivers. These buttons can be programmed in the Scanners & Cameras applet in Control Panel.


Considering I've tested several USB devices here at PCstats, I was thinking the HP scanner installation would be no different. As it turns out however, HP threw a curve ball here, and the usual process is slightly different. In this case, the drivers need to be installed BEFORE connecting the scanner for the first time. This is a rather interesting issue, but I can confirm that the scanner won't work unless this procedure is done. Luckily, HP does include a very helpful user guide (and setup poster) that illustrates this.

Other than this, installation proved to be rather uneventful. Upon loading the drivers, I connected the scanner and Windows detected it. The next step depends on whether the scanner is the 3300C, 3300Cse, or 3300Cxi model, as each comes with specific software. The 3300C does not include any image editing software, while the Cse and Cxi models come with Adobe Photodeluxe 2.0. The HP installation CD walks you through installing this software, and will kindly prompt for the correct disc if needed.

During the review of the 3300C, I installed Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME) on the test computer. While at first the scanning software refused to install, a quick trip to HP's site (https://www.hp.com/cposupport/nonjsnav/hpscanjet310443.html) reveals an update that is available. installing this update proved to be very easy, and provided full scanner support under microsoft's latest OS.

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Contents of Article: HP Scanjet 3300C
 Pg 1.  — HP Scanjet 3300C Scanner Review
 Pg 2.  Scanning quality and Software

 
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