Brother ADS-1800W portable document scanner A4, 600 × 600 dpi, USB-C

The manufacturer classes the ADS-1800W as a portable, compact document scanner. In practice that means it needs no cabinet or separate table like a large office scanner: keep it next to the monitor or in a drawer and take it out when invoices, contracts or receipts need scanning.

The scanner works in colour, with an optical resolution of 600 × 600 dpi. Stamps, signatures, highlighted lines and colour logos appear in the scan just as they do on paper. For documents this resolution leaves plenty of headroom and helps text recognition when a scan is turned into a searchable file.

It connects through a USB Type-C port, with data running over USB 2.0. Most current laptops have a USB-C port, so the scanner plugs in without an adapter. The manufacturer data we have does not mention a wireless connection. The same cable works with a desktop or a laptop.

The scanner handles documents up to A4, covering letters, invoices, contracts and forms. At 1.42 kg it is easy to take along, for example to a client meeting or another office, without weighing down a laptop bag too much.

Home offices and entrepreneurs who digitise invoices and contracts at their own desk; reception and service counters that need to scan a customer's document quickly; and staff who move between offices and want a scanner they can carry. Offices with a heavy document flow are better served by networked scanners.