Hardware Reviews

Hardware Reviews November 2000 • Vol.3 Issue 11
Canon CanoScan N650U

Thin and attractive, the affordable CanoScan N650U scanner has a few things in common with its more expensive counterpart, Canon's N1220U.

At 1.3 inches high, both models are extremely svelte, and each comes with a lid that you can lift an inch for scanning books, magazines, and other thicker media. Both also include the user-friendly, step-by-step Getting Started Guide, Canon's ScanGear Toolbox CS scanning software, ArcSoft's PhotoStudio 2000 and PhotoBase 2.1, Caere OmniPage, and an electronic users manual. In addition, each scanner comes with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port for easy installation on Macintosh and PC systems.

But don't let these similarities fool you. In terms of image quality and overall performance, you'll still get what you pay for, and the 600dpi (dots per inch), 24-bit N650U is a case in point. Although the CanoScan N650U sounds like a good deal and costs $100 less than the N1220U, it simply cannot measure up to the capabilities of Canon's more expensive model or even to some devices within its own price category.

The N650U's best characteristic was its reasonably speedy scan times. Our color 150dpi photograph sped through the machine in less than 30 seconds, for example, while the same image took only 1:46 at 600dpi.

However, the image quality was very disappointing. The scanner's automatic settings scanned in images much too dark to be acceptable. Although we adjusted the brightness and contrast settings in the scanning software to correct for this darkness, colors still appeared noticeably dull and faded. In addition, image details, while sharp in the light and midrange areas, quickly disappeared or became muddied in the darker areas, and transitions among colors in general looked rough and pixilated. The black-and-white test scan looked blotchy in a few areas, and the text document scan appeared speckled. The N650U also performed dismally on our grayscale test, recognizing only 21 separate shades of gray, far below our 27-shade benchmark average.

Having tested a wide range of scanners, we've learned not to expect too much from devices in the sub-$100 category because image quality and performance often doesn't approach that of higher-priced devices. Even so, we were disappointed with the N650U's lackluster imaging performance. If you have your heart and budget set on a sub-$100 scanner, we suggest you look at other models with better performance capabilities.

by Lori Robison

CanoScan N650U

http://www.ccsi.canon.com