When working to achieve a paperless workplace or home, it is impossible to deny the usefulness of a solid and feature-full duplex scanner. And I have always been one to advance the notion of getting those extra features that you may only ever use once or twice. It's always better to have what you need on hand, even if it isn't very often.
But that doesn't mean the best duplex scanner for you is the most expensive model that can do everything.
The first and most important step in deciding which scanner to buy to assist you in going paperless is to determine exactly what your scanning needs will be, even if, as mentioned above, some of those needs won't be very frequent.
Obviously, the scanner should be able to handle standard size documents, which means you won't be looking for a dedicated photo, ID or business card scanner. However, having the ability to scan photos, IDs or business cards may be something you need from time to time. If so, make sure the scanner you choose has that functionality. But don't just get a photo-enabled scanner for kicks. If you have never and will never scan a photograph, save some money and get a scanner that doesn't cater to that.
The same goes for large-document scanners, those capable of processing, for instance, opened newspapers. If you can reasonably say that you may have need for such functionality from time to time, then by all means, get a large-document scanner. If not, then go with a cheaper model.
Making sure our duplex scanner is feature-rich is a good thing, but it is possible to go overboard and spend money that you will only regret later.
That being said, the one thing you do want to make sure your new scanner has is duplex functionality. That's what we have been talking about all along, after all. Nearly every decent document scanner has duplex functionality these days for pretty much the same price as simplex scanners, so there is no reason not to get it, even if you may not scan double-sided documents all that often.
The huge variety of scanners out there can be daunting to someone just looking for a simple piece of hardware to help them get organized. But with a little careful planning, you can make sure you get the scanner that is going to do everything you need, at a price that won't break the bank.
