Canon CanoScan LiDE 400 flatbed scanner A4, 4800 × 4800 dpi, USB

An optical resolution of 4800 × 4800 dpi means the scanner reads the original as real dots rather than pixels filled in by software. Everyday documents need far less, but with old photographs, stamps or designs with small print the headroom pays off: you can enlarge the image later without losing detail.

Home offices and accountants digitising invoices and contracts; families who want their old paper photos on the computer; students and teachers scanning book pages and worksheets. On a flatbed you can also lay a bound book or a thick document that a sheet-fed scanner would not accept.