Fujitsu on Tuesday introduced two new scanner for PC and Macintosh users with the ScanSnap S1500 and the nearly identical, but white, ScanSnap S1500M, respectively. Compared to previous scanners from Fujitsu, the latest ScanSnap scanners are faster, at 60ppm when scanning black and white documents or 20ppm on color documents, while being easier to use thanks to a more intuitive software interface, the company claims. Image scanning speeds are rated at 40 images per minute. Both S1500s can automatically detect page size, orientation, color setting and whether both sides of the page are printed. A new intelligent paper feed detection system uses ultrasonic tech.

Maximum optical resolution is set at 600dpi, which is set depending on the evaluated image quality of the original document. The ScanSnaps now have the ability to detect grayscale images, useful for the fine print of documents and small typefaces on business cards.

Via a new interface, users can e-mail scanned documents as files, save them to selected folders or send them to attached or networked printers. As well, the information from a business card, for example, can be saved to bundled software that includes Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard, CardMinder, or ScanSnap Organizer 4.0, all of which ship with the scanners. The S1500M comes instead with Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and Cardiris Business Card software. ScanSnap Manager for Mac turns highlighted words on a document to searchable PDF keywords.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and ScanSnap S1500M are available for $495.