HardwareHell

Today I am taking a look at the OpticBook 4600 flatbed scanner from Plustek. This high end scanner is primarily targeted toward school and public libraries. The idea is that it can be used to save space, as well as paper, over a traditional photocopy machine. Since it is small in comparison to a photocopier it only needs a small space on a desk and you can scan, save and go. Simply copy the document you wish, then just save it to any digital format you choose and be on your way. The OpticBook carries a price tag Of $699 USD.

Shamelessly taken from Plustek’s web site:
“In business since 1986, Plustek began as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for many large companies, producing innovative lines including scanners, IP cameras, servers and imaging related products. Through dedicated design innovation with strict and high quality manufacturing standards, Plustek has grown to become one of the largest image solution providers in the world.

In addition to sales and supporting offices worldwide, China-based factories and offices provide just-in-time manufacturing and superior engineering. This allows Plustek to introduce outstanding new products to the market in high quality and outstanding after sales services.”

It arrived in a bright and somewhat attractive orange and white box complete with carry handle. Inside the unit was packed with dense styrofoam caps on each side. The contents included a USB cable, power adapter, new product warranty and return sheet, quick set-up guide, driver and software CD and the scanner. (of course)

When I removed it from the box I found that it appeared like most every other scanner on the market. The only eye catcher to it is the brushed aluminum panels on the top of the unit. It does seem to be a sturdy product. Considering the target consumer, all of the internal components are, hopefully, very sturdy. Put to use in a library, I would imagine that it would get quite the daily workout.

Now there was a bit of a surprise to this scanner that I personally have never seen before. It has a reversible reflective backing in the cover. This feature has a white and black side. There is also a thin black sheet that is behind the reflective backing that is there to be used if you are scanning books, etc. and you have bleed through. You can place it between pages to prevent the bleed through.

Specifications:

System Requirements: 
• PC with a Pentium II or higher processor
• CD-ROM Drive
• One Available USB Port
• 128MB RAM (512 Recommended)
• 800MB free HDD Space
• High Color Graphics Card (VGA Compatible)
• MS Windows 2000 XP Vista Compatible

On to the Review:

The set-up of the unit and software installation was very simple to accomplish and was over quickly. Once the device is plugged up and turned on, it is ready to start in roughly one minute. It simply needs to warm up briefly after being turned on, or after it has gone into power save mode.

The OpticBook was designed for scanning from books and magazines as the front lip is approximately one-eighth of an inch deep. I have a Lexmark X2350 All-in-One that has a front lip that is approximately three-quarters of an inch deep. That is a difference of more than one-half an inch. It may not sound like much, but it really makes a big difference when you are scanning a thick book and need to get it onto the plate for a good scan.

You can see the difference in the images here. The one on the left was scanned on the Lexmark X2350 and on the right the OpticBook 4600. It really makes a difference if you are making up a PDF file and want a clean image to use.

When it comes to scanning I didn’t see anything truly special when it comes to photographs. I scanned some images on the X2350 which seems to have a max DPI resolution of 300. Then I scanned them with the 4600 at 300, 600 and 1200 DPI. The higher the scan resolution, the more surface defects are seen from the photographs. But,with the DocTWAIN’s color matching set to color sRGB, I couldn’t tell any difference at equal magnification levels. Three of the four images below were scanned with the 4600 at 300, 600 and 1200 DPI, the other one was scanned with the X2350. Can you tell which is which?

The scan speed itself was pretty impressive. In an office environment where you may need to get something done quickly, this scanner will come into its own. When I scanned some photographs of average size it only took approximately four seconds at 300 DPI and thirty seconds at 1200 DPI with the OpticBook 4600. When scanning a photograph with the X2350 at 300 DPI it took approximately 40 seconds. That is ten times slower at 300 DPI than the 4600!

Scanning a book with pages measuring approximately 7.25” x 9.25” the 4600 captured the image in 6 seconds while the X2350 took 46 seconds. Almost eight times slower. So, you can see that there is a big benefit to the 4600 in the arena that it is designed for. In an office or a library, the time taken to do simple page scans is really limited by the time you are willing to take to get the job done.

The software included with the OpticBook includes the OCR program Rediris Pro 10 Corporate Edition, Presto! PageManager 7.10, Presto! ImageFolio 4 and the TWAIN drivers for the 4600. The retail cost of the software alone is worth nearly the cost of the scanner Ringing in at a whopping $538.00 USD before any shipping charges!

The Presto! PageManager seems to have mostly office applications. Its main purpose being to manage and share documents across an office network. Although the single user could use it to create PDF files that comprise of multiple files. It also has web applications that could be useful. You can browse the web without leaving the program and it has an FTP feature as well.

The Presto! ImageFolio is the main application that would be used in most cases. It is automatically the application that the one touch button on the 4600 activates. That is unless you change that in docTWAIN. This application has a number of features similar to a lot of photoshop type applications. You can easily adjust the image size, touch up the color or change it to different looks. Over all a nice application.

Rediris Pro 10 is the application to compile PDF’s with if you are scanning the images at the time. You just scan them in one at a time into Rediris and when you have it all and you are ready to save it you just go to “file > save all pages as image” and select PDF as the format and name the file. Quite easy to accomplish. It is also possible to use this application to compile multiple pages as a single PDF file.

Don’t expect that this application will do a well with the handwriting recognition especially if you don’t want to write in all upper case lettering or spend a lot of time teaching it to recognize your handwriting. I don’t think it is practical to try to teach it of there are numerous people using this feature. There are a number of writing rules to follow to get it to work properly. I think it would be easier to just type it out.

The optical character recognition works quite well when it comes to text from a book or magazine. I scanned several pages from a couple books and had it convert them. There were very few errors in the text. I only needed to do some minor editing to the over all format to make it look like a proper page. It was nothing major and only took a couple minutes per page. Overall it is a solid program that will works very well.

Conclusion:

The OpticBook 4600 is well suited for the office and library applications. Especially those who are looking to save on paper. It scans very quickly compared to a large number of other units available. Set up is simple as is its use. I really liked the reversible reflective backing and the addition of the image enhancement backing for preventing bleed through when scanning books and magazines. Those are nice additions to any scanner and I think it was a great idea to include them.

Scan times are very short and would be a real time saver to anyone wishing to get things done and be on their way. The narrow lip in the front is an excellent feature for book scanning and helps keep pages flat for better images. This is especially good for creating nice PDF files.

The software package that is included is very nice. These programs are useful and work quite well for their intended tasks. Over all they are not difficult to learn to use. I actually went at them blindly and managed to get the results I wanted without much trouble. They actually carry a high value as well.

I have to say that I was uncertain when I first pulled Plustek OpticBook 4600 out of the box, but this unit has surprised me. It takes up no more room than any typical scanner and works its tasks quickly. The software included rounds out the whole package. It seems as if there was a lot of thought that went into the entire set for $699.00.

Pros: 
• Narrow front lip for scanning books, etc.
• Scan times are fast
• Reversible backing
• Image enhancement backing (for bleed through)
• Nice software package

Cons: 
• Bland design and color
• Photo and image capture is nothing special

I give this product an 8 out of 10 and a HwHell Silver award!
I would like to thank Plustek for the opportunity to review their product!