As a hardware reviewer, one would expect to have a basic grasp of the level of technology available to the consumer and how “new” or “innovative” a product is based on a base level of expected performance.  With the HP Scanjet N7710, this basic grasp is thrown awry, requiring a re-thinking of what the norm is in the area of business machines.

Admittedly, my reviews for non-home user hardware and productivity tools (aside from PC components) are few and far between, with the result of my approaching the current subject matter at hand with a fair bit of skepticism and puzzlement. First off, let us see what the unit claims on the box – its features, its specifications, basically what it’s supposed to do. The HP Scanjet N7710 is a duplex-capable, 35ppm scanner designed for big document scanning jobs. It has a maximum optical resolution of 600 x 600, with options in its included software to adjust this figure to smaller, and thus faster resolutions. The N7710 is also capable of scanning embossed and plastic-bound business cards using a small slot behind the printer.

Of these preliminary specifications, the speed – 35 pages per minute – was the most surprising. This is of course coming from a guy more used to flatbed, glass scan-through formats of the typical scanner that required each paged to be scanned one by one. The N7710 however, is seemingly designed around a paper feeder on a high-volume corporate printer – this feeder is capable of holding up to 50 pages-to-be-scanned at one time. Because of this mechanism, plus a quick round of testing with various profiles available, we can verify the sheer speed of this device – 35 pages are scanned and previewed on the computer screen in an average of 1 minute 2 seconds – including warmup (with the lamp already on standby).

                                             Only five buttons are present, cancel, tools, scan to document, scan to printer, and a combined selector button.

The testing was done with black & white and color scanning at 200dpi, both in single page and duplex mode. The “duplex” feature is another surprising point for this device – with the same number of pages loaded onto the feed mechanism, and the profile set to scan in duplex mode, I got 70 pages, back-to-back, in the same time required for 35 pages in single page mode. Although I cannot confirm that there are two scanning components inside the device short of taking it apart, it is a safe assumption with the same speed of scanning displayed in both modes. So the device essentially scans at 70ppm when in duplex mode – an often enough occurrence in business applications.

                                             Side profile reveals a unique shape that works well.

Business is the main focus of the device, as most home users with archiving requirements or picture backup requirements needs high-resolution scanning of single sheets instead of the mass scanning done in offices for multi-page reports, brochures, or briefings. In other words, the speed of the device and its multi-page feeder design is exceptionally suited for office tasks involving multiple loose pages, and overkill for the home user, who rarely if ever scan more than 10 pages at any one time. That said, if price is disregarded (an average-for-business but expensive-for-home $900), this same ability stands it in good stead in most situations.

                                             The rear hosts a pass through designed to scan embossed and business cards.

I say most because of its relatively low maximum resolution of 600 x 600. This is perfectly fine for documents and the occasional chart plus for backup purposes, but for the avid picture archive creator, flat-bed scanners with 2400 x 3200 and above resolutions would be a better fit. The N7710’s software suite reflects the roles it must fill, with a direct scan plus profile creator for one step scanning for the busy office. These profiles can contain information from what format the scan will be saved in, what resolution, color, orientation and whatnot to use, to where it’s to be saved in a network or local folder.

                                        Power switch, power in, and USB out, but no network options.

This entry served as an eye-opener for me – while I’d never have thought up a device like this for home use, the typical medium office will almost certainly have this or a similar model in the office to take care of multi-page scanning that must be finished immediately. My initial shock at the price tag is tempered by its ability to scan in duplex mode and its high-output capability. With performance and abilities like these, the N7710’s specialized nature and high price is geek-worthy and more than justified.