i have a flatbed scanner and it is great. a hewlett packard scanjet 5200c.
i will only use flatbeds because i scan things from books and you can't put a book through a roll. and i scan a lot of old pictures--again--don't want to ruin them by feeding it through a machine.
i say go for a flatbed. but not those cheap $20-50 ones. i had one and returned it because the thing was SO slow and was poor quality.
if you want a portable one, flatbeds aren't really an option
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