Microtek claims to have introduced the world's first desktop image scanner for personal computing in 1984. We received our first ScanMaker X12USL (Standard), directly from the Netherlands, upon arrival the product displayed signs of transit damage. This is a common problem in the IT Sector, couriers have this knack of damaging IT products be it PC's, Scanners, Printers they just do not give a damn. In most cases, the manufacturer is helpless and totally reliant on couriers. What is more important is how the manufacturer reacts to the problem. As far as we were concerned their reaction was immediate, considering the shortage of the scanner, we received a new unit in no time. The X12Usl comes with a USB and SCSI interface as standard, with a SCSI card and cable for both. We were tempted to use SCSI but for this labs we felt this would give Microtek an unfair advantage over the others. USB installation was a simple affair and no different from the others in the labs. We were up and running in no time at all.

The X12USL is supplied with a installation guide giving details on unpacking the scanner through to viewing the on-line manual provided on their CD. The online manual is comprehensive and also provides details on the software that is bundled with the scanner. The on-line guide is in Adobe Acrobat format, and the reader is provided on the on-line CD for you to install if you do not have it. We had a good read of the Troubleshooting guide which was reasonable for a beginner, but and experienced user would struggle to find answers. There is also a multilingual quick reference guide to ScanWizard 5 for Windows printed in A5 format, it really is a quick guide only. We were comfortable with MicroTek's documentation offering, as this would be an added bone to the first time user.

Ergonomically speaking the scanner has Power and 'Go' buttons located at the front. The 'Go' button will launch ScanWizard 5 very handy, andy!. At the rear of the scanner you are provided with 2 SCSI ports, a SCSI ID Dial, Terminator Switch, USB port and of course the Power connector. The scanner has a distinctive look that screams "l am powerful", the scanner is compact and lends it self to be tucked away to become a useful workhorse.

X12USL software bundle is no pushover, it has an excellent selection of tried and tested software currently available on the market. The list is impressive: Adobe Photoshop 5 LE - you really cannot get better imaging software than Photoshop. Microtek's own ScanWizard 5 - very popular amongst MicroTek die hards. Caere's Pagekeeper - a document management software enabling you to organize all your scanned images and documents. Omnipage LE- is the OCR software which should look after all your Optical Character Recognition needs.

Our test on the X12USL revealed how good a scanner it really was. The results were stunning. In our preview test the scanner was on par with the rest of the bunch. The final scan times however, revealed the naked truth it zoomed ahead with a time of 2 mins and 16 secs. Now if this was a PC we would claim "overclocking"!. Remember this test was carried out on USB, not SCSI, so we thought shall we?, yes why not!, the SCSI timings on final scan was 1 min and 42 secs.

MicroTek along with it's Taiwanesse counterparts has contributed not only the current price levels we all enjoy as consumers, but also to the development of scanners to what they are today. We have no hesitation in awarding the ScanMaker X12USL with our Performance award. Well done all at MicroTek and keep up the good work!

Congratulations to Microtek on winning our One2surf Performance Award!!

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