Epson Scanner Perfection 4490 Office Scanner

List Price: $397.99 Discount Price: Too low to display

Features:

• Delivers precision color and detail with 4800 x 9600 dpi scanning
• Quickly scans multiple documents (30 pages up to 8.5x14) with
• Makes it easy to scan 35mm slides and negatives, plus 2 1/4"
• Offers Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (compatible with Windows® and
• Includes Digital ICE, so you can automatically remove dust

Customer Reviews:

Epson 4990: A great buy for the money [Posted on 2007-05-19]
I give high ratings to this scanner.

The office scanner does come with the transparency materials that the Photo version offers and it comes with the automatic feeder. Previously I had a seven year old Epson 1640 Office.

I use the scanner for two different purposes:
Office: Where I use Paperport and Omnipage (OCR).

Art: Where I use Photoshop and In Design to scan in photos and illustrations, but black and white and color, sometimes from older, yellowed material.

This worked so well and so much better than the previous Epson I was surprised. After I played with the setting for 30 minutes I was able to scan in pictures and illustrations that were just great. The settings often eliminated the yellow backgrounds of old paper and made the flesh colors far more realistic. What took a bit of time in Photoshop now took no time at all. The colors we accurate.

It worked very quickly and well for my office use in Paperport and Omnipage. The feeder worked well and fast when scanning in black and documents at 150-200 dpi.

Unlike the old scanner, this scanner puts setting into three modes. Home, Office and Professional, but believe it or not, I just use the home mode for most of what I do. Each mode gives you several options and that is what I played with for 30 minutes. In the preview mode, you can "play" with the various settings and adjust the picture to your preference, before you do the actual scan. After a few time, I learned what settings for what kind of picture and so it does not take long. The picture quality is far superior than the Epson 1640. I was really surprised.

Epson software also comes with a "Scan Direct" button, where you can scan directly into any program or your printer.

Legal size documents do have to use the Automatic Document Feeder. The flatbed scanning area is about 12 inches so most of my Legal documents would still fit there, but an extra inch would have been nice. It is a bit louder than I would like and scanner is never instant, especially when you are scanning in at high dpi, but those would not be serious considerations for me in buying the unit.

My only serious disappointment is that NO instruction manual is included, nor is a PDF one put on the disc. Instead, you most have internet access to web style pages, that you cannot even print out as a book. I think I was at an advantage having the similar previous one, but this was a disappointment.

Dont buy it...... [Posted on 2007-11-06]
This machine is NOT compatible with Windows Vista machines regardless what the description says. Epson tech support was horrible. The drivers will NOT work with a Vista machine.

Document feeder - Yes! [Posted on 2007-11-29]
I love the document feeder! Working splendidly and well worth the price for my home office.

Excellent Scanner, but Mac Software Needs Polish [Posted on 2008-01-05]
I purchased this scanner to import glossy photos into my Mac Pro. So far, it has been a pleasure. Scan times are short at typical resolutions. The scanner really shines when the auto feeder is used; it can take a multipage document and render it into a PDF in no time at all. Unfortunately, if you use this scanner with a Mac, you will be somewhat disappointed with the software. Yes, the software is a Universal Binary program that works well in Leopard, but it lacks quite a bit of polish. I found myself using Photoshop CS3, Mac OS X's built-in Image Capture, and even third-party scanning software to achieve that "Mac-like" simplicity and elegance when interfacing between my Mac and this scanner. I hope Epson will dedicate more resources to updating their Mac software; it's the only missing link in this package as far as I am concerned.

WARNING when buying Epson products [Posted on 2008-04-18]
PURCHASE YOUR EPSON PRODUCT THROUGH AN AUTHORIZED DEALER OR FROM EPSON DIRECTLY.

This is not a review of this product, but rather a word to the wise... Two and half months after my purchase of an Epson 10000XL scanner through Amazon, it stopped working. Through the followup and tech support process I learned that, because I purchased through Amazon, the manufacturer nor the seller would honor the 1 year warranty. Epson's position is that Amazon is not an authorized seller and that they merely act as broker for what can often be re-furbished or second hand merchandise.

So, should your purchase break or malfunction, as mine did, you are out of luck with regard to warranty.

This lesson cost me $2400.00

Click here for more details and discount information...