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).