Benq S2W-7400UT

With the S2W-7400UT, Benq has refreshed the top end of its accessible Scan-to-Web range of home and office flatbed scanners, first launched under the Acer Peripherals brand.

This 48bit device boasts a sampling rate of 2,400 x 4,800dpi, offering twice the capture resolution of the 6400UT but following the same case and driver design.

Connected via USB, the S2W-7400UT is rare in not just supporting the USB2 standard but in bundling a four-port USB2 PCI card and cable in the box.

This generosity isn't matched by the software bundle however, which is limited to the Mirascan Twain driver and an old cut-down optical character recognition package from Abbyy.

Five illuminated buttons at the front of the machine provide quick-task functions that you can customise in the driver.

But to call them 'quick' is a misnomer. Although the scanner's potential hardware performance down the USB2 cable is good, the software driver's performance is slow to launch, slow to respond to clicks and seems to wait before previews and final scans start.

Worse, the Mirascan user interface is a mess of buttons, toggles and dropdown menus and we experienced several crashes.

Despite this, we achieved reflective scans of good quality. Unfortunately, transparency scans using the built-in hood were appalling, suffering from streaks and discoloration.

This scanner is noisy too, and it doesn't help things when you have to follow documentation with screenshots that look different from the drivers provided.

The S2W-7400UT is a big disappointment. You won't have to look far to find a better scanner for the same money or less.

SPECS

• Flatbed CCD scanner
• 2,400 x 4,800dpi max resolution
• 48bit depth
• Included software: Mirascan 5.1, Abbyy Fine Reader 4.0 Sprint
• 286 x 449 x 99mm (w x d x h)
• 4.2kg
• USB2 interface (USB 1.x compatible)

£179.99 (£153.18 ex VAT)

Contact: Benq