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Dan´s Data has posted a review on the Acer 1240UT flatbed scanner. Here a clip:



A full-bed 300dpi colour scan - not something you´re likely to do too often, as it generates more than 25 megabytes of image data in 24 bit colour, and twice that in 48 bit - takes the 1240UT more than five and a half minutes. That includes the time it takes for the scanner to squirt data over to the driver; the scan pauses while this happens. The scanner only seems to have about three and a half megabytes of internal memory free, so there are plenty of pauses.

Five and a half minutes is slow. There are plenty of cheap USB scanners that can do the same job in well under a minute. Then again, they give crummier results.

At 100dpi, 24 bit colour, you´ll only be waiting about 30 seconds for a full bed scan from the 1240UT. In this lower resolution mode, the Acer´s still slow, but only by a factor of about two compared with the cheaper opposition. Give the 1240UT less to think about, by dropping to greyscale or line art ("one bit") mode, and the 100dpi full bed time drops to about 16 seconds. This is quite on par with other cheap scanners.
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