The author finds that all five of the scanners reviewed perform well.

Only a few years ago, online telecommunication was usually limited to text transmission. Bulletin board systems and early online services used few graphics in display. Since the advent of the Internet, all this has changed. Web pages are often decorated with dozens of images. E-mail "pen pals" also like to get a look at each other by sending their pictures to each other as attached files.

Where do the graphic images needed to illustrate a Web site come from'? If you're artistically inclined, some images can be created through the use of drawing software, or a digital camera can be used to directly capture photos for computer use. Most graphics, however, are transferred from existing photographs with an optical scanner.

Scanners were once an expensive PC peripheral, and early devices were large, sensitive, photocopier-like machines. Until recently, individual users and small businesses would typically have pictures and documents scanned by a professional service. With dropping technology costs, the concept of the personal scanner has emerged: a less-sensitive device that can be added to a PC for less than $500. Sheet-fed scanners, introduced in 1994, are sometimes called "hot dog scanners" because they are rather tubular in shape. Sheet-fed scanners minimize the physical components by accepting only a single document inserted at a time and are especially affordable. Prices of the scanners in this roundup range from $150 to $400.

While adding images to Web pages can justify owning one, a scanner is a handy device for many computer tasks. Do-it-all scanners include software for storing and organizing scanned images, as well as for "reading" scanned words into a text file through a process called Optical Character Recognition, or OCR. Dedicated software for image scanning and OCR processing is available from many vendors, of course, but the document-management software included with some personal scanners is adequate for small-scale scanning. Choosing, purchasing, and mastering third-party software only represents additional cost and effort that is difficult to justify.

Some technical features of a sheetfed scanner are worth considering, as well. The best means of measuring the quality of a scanner is...