Yesterday, Epson America announced the Epson V500 Office scanner for micro-business owners, home users and consumers. It's a scanning solution that combines the productivity features of document scanner with the image quality of a photo scanner, effortlessly, into one compact chassis.

It makes everything a lot more comfy, especially with the built-in 30-page Auto Document Feeder that will take pages one by one and scan them with a speed of up to three pages per minute. Four push buttons are there for easy, one-touch scanning. Using the Epson ReadyScan LED technology, fast scans can now start instantly due to eliminating warm-up times both when starting the scan and when switching between reflective and film scanning, further enhancing productivity.

"Continuing Epson's commitment to innovation, the Epson Perfection V500 Office is a versatile scanner that is designed to produce high-quality scans, whether for personal or business needs," said Mitch Kadish, senior product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. "By combining the productivity features of a document scanner with detailed image quality expected from a dedicated photo scanner, Epson is able to deliver the ideal scanning solution at a great value."

As usual, the hardware is not always everything, as the Epson Perfection V500 comes with a rich bundle of software, including Epson Scan with Easy Photo Fix, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Event Manager for urgent scans like scanning an e-mail or creating searchable PDFs. Abbyy Fine Reader couldn't have been excluded from such a bundle, for creating editable documents from scans. Image and text editing and fixing are eased by the 6400 dpi resolution for the best quality.

The V500 will be available starting with September 2009 at Epson authorized dealers, online through superstores and resellers, plus on the Epson Store Web site. The ESP is $349.99, which is not at all much if the maker keeps up with what it has stated about the scanner.


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