Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals
New Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M
Just about everyone who has used one seems to rave about Fujitsu's ScanSnap line of sheet-fed scanners, especially when combined with OCR software like DEVONthink Pro Office. The only problem has been the price, running at nearly $500. Well, Macworld is reporting that Fujitsu is finally going to release Mac support for their newest, portable ScanSnap S300 which has hitherto been Windows only and which costs a considerably more palatable $295.Unfortunately, it will not come with the full version of Adobe Acrobat like the more expensive scanners in the line, but it looks to be a good deal both for mobile and for home users looking to get organized. It will provide full-duplex scanning to PDF at 8ppm. Fujitsu's site has not been updated yet, but the scanner is expected to ship in March.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eleventeen said 11:12AM on 1-16-2008
The S510M is one of the best investments I made for organization and productivity.
While the 300 is cheaper, it's also half the speed and has a much smaller 'hopper' for sheets to be scanned.
The loss of Acrobat isn't necessarily a bad thing, the OCR software that comes with the 510 is decent (the ABBYY FineReader) and combined with something like Yep, document management is easy. The only thing you're missing is the capability to add or remove individual sheets, which third party plugins (or even Preview in Leopard.)
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Eleventeen said 11:13AM on 1-16-2008
Oh my bad, the 300 doesn't come with ABBYY...no OCR included, it looks like.
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dawzilla said 1:04PM on 1-16-2008
There's been a Japanese driver for the Scansnap for a while. Works great, if you can read it!
http://scansnap.fujitsu.com/jp/downloads/mac.html
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Adam Schroeder said 8:16PM on 1-17-2008
Wait, the Japanese apple driver works with the S300m, or the previously released S510m. I have been waiting to hear of a success with the S300 and leopard. Like mentioned above, the S510m is fantastic, but it doesn't fit in my briefcase.
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Michael said 8:45PM on 1-23-2008
I have tried my S300 yesterday. It's fast & accurate. I have not fully tried everything. It quickly cleared my stackes of bills & receipts. The basic Scan to PDF is easy, fast & clear. Receipts comes out straight. Different size detectable. Only needs to put the longest page in front. The reverse side sometimes come out landscape or upside down in PDF. Luckily that software can easily rotate pages quickly. The standard configurations is pretty good, it keep file size pretty small & Clear PDF. Bought in Singapore for SG$399 about US$275 (@exchange rate 1.45). It can work on USB powered!! Remember to install software first before connecting.
Next I going to scan my books into PDF. I am a Happy Owner of Scansnap S300. Keep it up Fujitsu
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manny said 9:05PM on 2-18-2008
where in singapore can I buy this?
Adrian said 7:34PM on 2-13-2008
Bought an S300 since I was too impatient to wait for the S300M. In any case the S300 matches my MacBook Pro (runs Leopard 10.5.2). I use the S300 in a Windows XP Image in Parallels. Everything seems to work beautifully. Sheet feeding is great, I had some mediocre experiences with the fi-5110EOXM. There is definitely no Mac OS X driver at the moment, it only exists for the S510 and similar series. Believe me I downloaded this Mac ScanSnap version and it definitely did not work with the S300. You'll just have to wait until March when Fujitsu releases the S300M, which should also see the release of the S300M ScanSnap Manager on the Fujitsu support site. This should work with the S300.
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Aram said 12:36PM on 2-15-2008
From what I know from past experience the 300 version will not be supported by 300M software. Normally Mac and PC counterparts have slightly different firmware and are not interchangeable.
Aram said 12:33PM on 2-15-2008
I think Fujitsu might provide an OCR as moderately-priced add-on purchased separately for S300M.
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