scanner

I have a HP scanjet 7650, which must be over 12 years old, it was a good scanner and still is a good scanner, apart from the fact it will not work with my MAc.
Now I can buy some software called Vue scan to get the scanner working with my MAc, but to get most of the functions of the scanner it costs around $50, to get the film scanner part, which I have not used for years, it will cost $99.
Is it really worth spending $50 on a 12 year old scanner? i am pretty sure scanners these days are better and faster, even the cheaper ones. Specs below


Resolution: 2400x2400 dpi;
Scan speed (color): 12 pp./Min;
Scan Speed ​​(B/W): 12 pp./Min;
Color Depth: 48-bit;

I could just connect it to my PC and when i want to scan something I can turn that on, it is not used very often, but is still useful to have a scanner. Not much available these days of stand-alone scanners at a decent price.
I was thinking of getting a A3 printer with scanner, but I don't really need a printer as I have the LED one, but I suppose it could be useful for photos and stuff like that as the LEd one is not much cop for that.
what to do? Is it really worth spending $50 on software for a 12 year old printer?

Did you come across this article which says how to do it using the built in apps.

I worked out how to add printers and scanners and the article you linked to shows I have done it right, but thanks anyway. The scanner is not picked up at all by the Mac, I am shocked it works in Windows 10 to be honest, I used Windows 8 drivers to get it working
According to HP, the latest macOS it is supported on is 10.12.

Being such an old scanner, i am not sure if it is really worth paying for software for it.
As I said above I could connect it to the PC and use it on that, but then that can be a bit of a pain. Scan, put document onto USB drive and transfl time then not so bad, but with energy prices the way they are the nas is only on when I require it.

i am thinking of maybe getting a A3 printer with a scanner built in, maybethis one I did say I would never buy an inkjet printer again, but they are useful for photos and an A3 one could be useful for large photos.
But it is money again, i spent enough as it is

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

The scanner is not picked up at all by the Mac, I am shocked it works in Windows 10 to be honest, I used Windows 8 drivers to get it working
According to HP, the latest macOS it is supported on is 10.12.

This is not surprising. Once Windows supports something it generally gets supported for a long time, certainly longer than on the Mac. Apple are far more proactive at removing support for old hardware.

This has pros and cons on both sides. The pro on the Apple side is that less old cruft has to hang around in the OS to support old stuff. The pro on Windows is that old stuff gets supported for longer.

The con side on Windows is that all that old cruft gets to stay in the OS and they have to make compromises to keep it all supported, which is what most of their corporate customers want. Which many would argue (including me) leads to them being tied to years (or decade) old bad design choices until seemingly the end of time...

Though I will say, Microsoft have shifted a bit in recent years to be more aggressive at throw out old cruft/support.

If the scanner isn't supported on the Mac then are you sure it would work even if you bought the 3rd party software - I would expect the software to only work if the scanner itself was supported?

As the manufacturer states that it supports that scanner….

If the scanner was supported natively you wouldn’t need the software.

This particular bit of software has been around a long time and one of its key selling points is that it supports scanners not supported by current versions of macOS.

I’ve used it in the past, it did what it claimed.

In reply to a post by ian72:

If the scanner isn't supported on the Mac then are you sure it would work even if you bought the 3rd party software - I would expect the software to only work if the scanner itself was supported?

There is a trial of the software, any output has a watermark on them, but it at least give ms a view that it works and it does work, not as good as the native software on windows as it doesn't reconise the buttons on the scanner.

I presume the software has its own drivers.

I don't know what to do,
I did notice today while testing the software that the scanner is making a strange noise when the head is going back to its default position. Maybe it is time to get something different, but I have spent so much money over the last few weeks.

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

I’ve used it in the past, it did what it claimed.

Vuescan also works on Windows where drivers for scanners are no longer available. I’ve used it and it worked extremely well.

It is the environmental option to keep using hardware, instead of throwing it away as Tim Cook’s company would prefer

Edited by jchamier (Thu 09-Mar-23 20:17:33)

I don't think Tom Cook really wants you to throw your scanner away, it isn't like Apple make or sell scanners.

Anyway, in this case it doesn't look like it is Apple who removed support. HP simply stopped making new drivers for new OSes for this scanner.

The last Windows driver they released was Win 8.1, that was over 9 years ago in 2013.

In fact in this case the Mac got a longer support period for this scanner, there were drivers for macOS 10.12, released in September 2016.

The scanner itself seems to have been on the market way back in 2006, so it got a full decade of support on the Mac.

My Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 is over 10 years old now and still fully supported on the Mac (and on Windows 11).

I think I will keep the scanner, the printer I looked at don't offer duplex scanning, which is a bit silly since it has a ADF. I will hook my scanner back up to the PC and will use it on that for the odd time I require it.

I have been spending far too much, I still have to get a new mouse tomorrow as my one have given up and I am using a wired Logitech flat mouse, and it is hurting my wrists.
So far I have spent £1,316 on my mac mini pro
£127 on the serif affinity suite
£97 on a dock for the mac mini
i am going to take the old 980GB SSD drive out of my Pc for the dock, but at some point i will also get a NvME drive for the dock as well.
The mouse will cost me around £40, I have had some money giving me from work for being a good boy, plus a discount.
So around £1,500 i have spent so far.

OK, fair enough - good USP for the software.

I've been using these SSDs when fettling laptops, very good performers and the 1TB is now under £30, I've obviously no connection to the seller

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32823999852.html?ug_...

In reply to a post by neo_wales:

I've been using these SSDs when fettling laptops, very good performers and the 1TB is now under £30, I've obviously no connection to the seller

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32823999852.html?ug_...

A bit cheap for a 1Tb, open it up, and you may find a SD card in there and not a proper SSD.
I would never ever buy anything from aliexpress, thanks, but no thanks.
the one I have in the PC can be used it only hold some games, they can be put onto the 256GB SSD that is in there.

In reply to a post by ian72:

OK, fair enough - good USP for the software.

The price is good, but is it worth it for a 12-year-old scanner? Like the scanner could go on for years and then it may go belly up in a few weeks
I made a mistake when I got my brother LED printer, I should have paid a bit more and got one with a scanner on. I think at the time it was about an extra £80, but again it was single sided scanning via the document feeder.
I don't get the point in having a document feeder on a scanner just for one side?
I could never go back to a printer which is not duplex printing.
I suppose with a single sided scanner, the software will tell you to flip the paper. It is not as if I use the scanner that often, I don't use the printer that often which is why I went for a LED one and not an ink jet, but it is useful to have.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by ian72:

OK, fair enough - good USP for the software.

The price is good, but is it worth it for a 12-year-old scanner? Like the scanner could go on for years and then it may go belly up in a few weeks
I made a mistake when I got my brother LED printer, I should have paid a bit more and got one with a scanner on. I think at the time it was about an extra £80, but again it was single sided scanning via the document feeder.
I don't get the point in having a document feeder on a scanner just for one side?
I could never go back to a printer which is not duplex printing.
I suppose with a single sided scanner, the software will tell you to flip the paper. It is not as if I use the scanner that often, I don't use the printer that often which is why I went for a LED one and not an ink jet, but it is useful to have.

There is somewhere on YouTube a vid and they strip down Golden fir SSd drive and turns out it uses the same chipset as Crucial brand which are a lot more expensive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n8Foung0Bs&t=613s&a...

A lot of people reckon that they are Crucial disks which failed the quality tests. It would be interesting to see some independent long-term reviews. You really can’t rely on Amazon reviews or other consumer review sites. They are too easily gamed.

A cheap disk isn’t so cheap if it turns its toes up after a few months.

In reply to a post by neo_wales:

There is somewhere on YouTube a vid and they strip down Golden fir SSd drive and turns out it uses the same chipset as Crucial brand which are a lot more expensive.

Might use the same controller, but does it use Micron's copyrighted firmware? In SSD's the firmware is more important than the hardware. (Micron is the owner of Crucial).

I've used over a dozen in laptop fettles without problem and I'm waiting on a couple of 2TB to arrive and replace a couple of 2TB spinnies, no issues to date.

You want to pay double for the same thing then go for it, fill your boots.

Ask me in a year and I'll let update on these drives performance and reliability.

Go for it… just hope you run regular backups in case it doesn’t work out.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Go for it… just hope you run regular backups in case it doesn’t work out.

I would not risk it either, but people should do regular back-ups anyway, spinny drives can go belly up as I have seen with the drives I have taken from my mates recording studio.


The printer/scanner I was looking at is now not available for delivery, so that put that idea out anyway. I am going to open up my old scanner as I noticed there is a mark on the inside of the glass, so need cleaning, also lubricate the runner that the head runs on as I think that is what is making the noise. To get a scanner that offer the same features as mine will cost around the £350 mark or more, so I will keep what I have got and connect it to the PC.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Go for it… just hope you run regular backups in case it doesn’t work out.

NAS, cloud, external drives off site for important stuff, nothing to worry about me backing up mate

But presumably the dozen or so laptops are not for your personal use?

I can't find any specs on them, i doubt they have any cache so would be pretty slow compared to others. Not that I am going to buy one as I said I will use the one from my PC, it will be mainly redundant anyway. It is a NvME i will get at some point

To my mind the two things you don’t stint on are storage and PSUs. Cheap disks, blank DVDs, SD cards, etc. cause no end of trouble and are a waste of money. Cheap PSUs end up costing you hundreds.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

To my mind the two things you don’t stint on are storage and PSUs. Cheap disks, blank DVDs, SD cards, etc. cause no end of trouble and are a waste of money. Cheap PSUs end up costing you hundreds.

I have got some cheap DVDs and they are fine, but you can go too cheap. A lot of DVDs are produced in the same place, certainly in this day and age where choice is more limited. SD cards, the last lot I got for my Video camera was My memory own brand, £7 for 16GB and again they have been fine, I did go for a brand name for the Panasonic mirrorless camera, due to it being 4K and need something faster, I went for a Lexar 64GB 150Mb/s card, but that was only £24, so not too bad and again it is fine. But these are not in constant use like a SSD,

PSU, I certainly agree with you, I learnt that lesson many years ago. I built a computer for someone, they wanted it really cheap, so I went for a budget PSU, and after a few months it let go, thankfully it did not do any damage to the motherboard.
Never again, I always buy Corsair units now, not that I am planning to build any more machines now, unless my PC decides to go belly up.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

But presumably the dozen or so laptops are not for your personal use?

My son is a network engineer and picks up some PCs but mostly laptops that a company have marked down for disposal, gets permission to take them, I fettle them and we donate them to people who need a machine, usually boy scouts/guides/cadets; a couple of local shelters have taken some.

Decided to go with Vuescan, around £40 to get my scanner working with my Mac, buying another printer/scanner is waste when there is really nothing wrong with the scanner I have got. Just need a clean under the glass, I have tried it but not got good results, need to find the best way to clean it without smears. even if the scanner last for another couple of years or so.
I did get rid of the strange noise it was making when returning the head to its default position, a bit of lub on the rails sorted that out.
Scanners these days are used only slightly more than Printers, I normally us it to scan documents that come in the post, like Council tax

Came to this thread late.

I have had Vuescan for more years than I care to think. Only ever had one problem which was fixed in less than a day.

I have a "lifetime" licence, so I'll leave it in my will.

Its interface takes little getting used to, but you won't regret it.

In reply to a post by Rhynchelma:

Came to this thread late.

I have had Vuescan for more years than I care to think. Only ever had one problem which was fixed in less than a day.

I have a "lifetime" licence, so I'll leave it in my will.

Its interface takes little getting used to, but you won't regret it.

I have just used it properly to scan some documents and it works well, nice to have the scanner back without having to turn the PC on.
The UI is a bit strange and not being able to reconise that the document feeder is being use, in that I have to tell it what to do and also the buttons on the scanner don't do anything now, not that I really use them much. But the scanner has a new life, which is good, otherwise it would be put on a shelf or dumped, which would be a shame and I do like the scanner and while it is pretty slow at 2400DPI, in fact very slow, I doubt any new scanner can even get up to that, in fact a lot are 600DPI and that is it.

My thought was to get a A3 printer with a scanner, maybe use it for posters or stuff like that, but it is just a waste of money as I doubt I would use it that much.

I have the lifetime licence as well, if the scanner lasts for another few years it is worth doing.
As I said, the only thing is finding out how to clean the glass, there are smears on it. I was told water and a micro fibre cloth. I will look more into it.

It is at least lubricating the rail, have stopped it squeaking. it is at least 10 years old, maybe older.

In reply to a post by Rhynchelma:

Came to this thread late.

I have had Vuescan for more years than I care to think. Only ever had one problem which was fixed in less than a day.

I have a "lifetime" licence, so I'll leave it in my will.

Its interface takes little getting used to, but you won't regret it.

Thanks for posting that- I've got an old Canon flatbed which I haven't used for 10 years or so because I couldn't find Mac drivers. So (after I'd spent 15 minutes or so finding where I'd put it!) I downloaded the trial and it works fine

Looks like the basic drivers will probably be OK for the few occasions I'm likely to use it but need to think about that... a bigger problem will be finding space on the desk to put it! I won't have Adrian's issue with scanner buttons because apart from what I assume is a reset button it hasn't got any

In reply to a post by billford:

Thanks for posting that- I've got an old Canon flatbed which I haven't used for 10 years or so because I couldn't find Mac drivers. So (after I'd spent 15 minutes or so finding where I'd put it!) I downloaded the trial and it works fine

Looks like the basic drivers will probably be OK for the few occasions I'm likely to use it but need to think about that... a bigger problem will be finding space on the desk to put it! I won't have Adrian's issue with scanner buttons because apart from what I assume is a reset button it hasn't got any

If your canon scanner have no doc feeder then all you need are the basic drivers. Technology on scanners have not really gone crazy, some of the more expensive ones are faster, the ones we have at work will scan both sides at the same time and are super fast, but you are looking at a grand. Hp does sell one that also does both side at the same time for around £350, which is pretty good to be honest, but I doubt it is as fast as the one at work. It grabs the paper at super sonic speed.
quality wise they are still the same more or less, 600DPI which is the normal, some are 1200, mine can go to 2400, but i noticed most don't.

I ordered a canon when I got this, just a cheap flatbed canon scanner and I ended up with Hp one that cost a lot more for the same price. I did email the company I got it from, but they insisted I was sent a canon as that was what it said on the external packaging. So someone in their warehouse could not tell the difference, or they had enough of their job and was leaving that day.

I had a Plustek years ago, I thought I would do a search to see if they are still around and to my shock, they are. The one I had was awful, cheap plastic, noisy, but it was cheap and did the job. Shocked that they are still going, but they seem to make better products.

At the end of the day, I should have got the Brother LED printer with a scanner, but I did not, due to the cost.

I bought a HP flatbed scanner a few years ago when my old scanner stopped working with anything later than XP. I bought an Epson EcoTank printer a few years ago that came with a scanner, so now I have two!

In reply to a post by spile:

I bought a HP flatbed scanner a few years ago when my old scanner stopped working with anything later than XP. I bought an Epson EcoTank printer a few years ago that came with a scanner, so now I have two!

The Ecotank, I had a loot at them at one point, they are pretty expensive for a basic printer, I suppose because Epson can't charge stupid prices for their ink, so they charge stupid prices for their printer.,
Canon produces the Megatank, works the same way, again overpriced for basic printers. Maybe we are just used to paying cheap prices for printers because we are ripped off with the price of ink.

This is really what put me off the idea off buying a printer with a scanner, and why I paid for the software.
My idea was to get a Brother MFC-J5340DWE A3 printer/scanner, but at £60 for set of ink, that put me off. I already have a brother colour LED printer.
I know Ink jets are better for photos and can print on different paper, but I did say when I got this printer, I will never buy an ink jet again. Not a fan of Epson printers to be honest, the last one I had was built to be as cheap and nasty as possible. My brother on the other hand swears by them. I like Canon myself, but the last canon I had was not the best,

A friand has a

The EcoTank has been fantastic. After five years we are still on the original ink. No blocks and we are getting quality prints. Well worth the upfront cost.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

If your canon scanner have no doc feeder then all you need are the basic drivers.

No doc feeder so yes, the basic drivers would do, but I think the scanner is too far past its best... there was obviously something not right about scanned images, and scanning with nothing loaded (so it's scanning the white "back plate") gave an unacceptable and roughly sinusoidal variation of both luminance and (less severe) hue across the scan, suggesting a problem with either the head or the electronics

It hasn't been used for at least 8 years so, although I can't see why it should be the cause of the problem, there's a good chance any electrolytic capacitors in there have dried out, and an outside chance that leaving it on for a few days will re-form them enough for it to work properly.

I'm certainly not betting on it but it's worth a shot, and if it doesn't work then I'm no worse off than I was before

Edited by billford (Sat 01-Apr-23 17:09:16)

In reply to a post by spile:

The EcoTank has been fantastic. After five years we are still on the original ink. No blocks and we are getting quality prints. Well worth the upfront cost.

Wow, an Epson printer lasting five years. Saying that my Brother has two and they are still going after a few years, including a workforce one.
I just think you pay a lot for a basic printer, it is fine if you use a lot of ink I suppose as you save on that, as i said Canon megatank has the same problem, pay a lot of money for a printer which is pretty basic.

In reply to a post by billford:

No doc feeder so yes, the basic drivers would do, but I think the scanner is too far past its best... there was obviously something not right about scanned images, and scanning with nothing loaded (so it's scanning the white "back plate") gave an unacceptable and roughly sinusoidal variation of both luminance and (less severe) hue across the scan, suggesting a problem with either the head or the electronics

It hasn't been used for at least 8 years so, although I can't see why it should be the cause of the problem, there's a good chance any electrolytic capacitors in there have dried out, and an outside chance that leaving it on for a few days will re-form them enough for it to work properly.

I'm certainly not betting on it but it's worth a shot, and if it doesn't work then I'm no worse off than I was before

That is a shame, yeah it could be the caps.
I must admit, I am shocked mine is still working after all these years, just hope it stays working for a while longer, certainly now I spent money on software for it

Well, 48 hours on soak made not the slightest difference, so I think it's terminal.

Nice to know about VueScan though, I liked it. In the (not particularly likely) event that I buy a scanner then a comparison with whatever software comes with it might be interesting!

In reply to a post by billford:

Well, 48 hours on soak made not the slightest difference, so I think it's terminal.

Nice to know about VueScan though, I liked it. In the (not particularly likely) event that I buy a scanner then a comparison with whatever software comes with it might be interesting!

There is always that horrible feeling - a machine that’s run and run, sometimes for years, virtually non-stop. At some point gets powered down, packed up for a move or relocation. Gets unpacked at the other end, powered back up and…absolutely NOTHING.

Yeah, I've been there a couple of times. It's a good time for increasing the contents of the swear-box

(Which is one reason I don't have one )

🤣

In reply to a post by billford:

Well, 48 hours on soak made not the slightest difference, so I think it's terminal.

Nice to know about VueScan though, I liked it. In the (not particularly likely) event that I buy a scanner then a comparison with whatever software comes with it might be interesting!

That is a shame, still if you want a basic scanner they are pretty cheap. I must admit, paying out for Vuescan for a machine that is years old was a bit worrying in that I may be wasting money. Someone that posts on here told me to get rid of the scanner when I updated to Window 10 as I was having problems with it. I hate dumping things if there is nothing wrong with them