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Fujitsu has recently introduced their ScanSnap S500M document scanner, which is the Mac version of their S500 model. They are great for fast document scans or doing a digital archive of all those papers piling up on your desk.

Included with the S500M is a USB cable, power adapter, and a software bundle consisting of Adobe Acrobat Standard 7 and ReadIris Pro 11.

The ScanSnap S500M looks a bit like a fax machine from the 1990s but that doesn't affect its speed. The S500M can scan at least 20-25 pages in single-sided mode in a minute, amazing speed for such a small package. It can also handle double-sided pages without a hassle.

What's nice about the S500M and the included scanning software is that it deletes blank pages from the final PDF document, and if you ever insert a page that doesn't align itself - the final scan will be straightened automatically.

The only problem we had was that inserting multiple pages often made the unit mistake two pages as one. A fix was to insert one page at a time. The scanner isn't made for scanning images, but that was to be expected for a document scanner.

Fujitsu's ScanSnap S500M is available at the ScanSnap website for $495 or from Buy.com for $430 with free shipping. Expensive but it may be a good investment if you scan documents frequently.

Pros

• Speedy document scans.
• Scan directly to PDF without any user intervention.

Cons

• Didn't tackle image scanning well.
• Pricey.

Final Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars.

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