This scanner is OK for amateur photographers but does not provide the tools to scan negatives for fine photographic work, The software is sloppy and the HP on-line help is pathetic. I found I knew more than the technician about a problem that I asked help for.

I bought the HP Scanjet G4050 as a replacement for my HP4370 Scanjet, which I had worn out after 2 years of heavy use scanning in books and documents. Most of the reviews did not relate to my primary application, which is scanning text into MS-Word documents.

I have been using the G4050 now for about a month, and am extremely pleased with the results. The software works pretty much the same as what I was already used to. And so far as speed (something criticized by some of the other reviewers), I find the speed more than adequate, being two to four times faster than my old scanner.

This is a quality product, and the few pictures that I have scanned also come out nicely. I recommend the HP-G4050 to any who have a need for high-volume photo or document scanning.

This is an awful choice for scanning slides. I am a professor and this device was bought for me by my department so I didn't have a choice. My main intention was to scan lots of slides. The scanner simply does not focus. All of its scans are blurry and bad quality. When we complained, the HP reps did some testing on them and somehow convinced our computer support person that there is nothing wrong with it. I do not recommend anyone to purchase this item. Its support service is also evil.

I've owned this scanner for almost a year and find it to produce good crisp images when scanning photos, but slightly fuzzy images with scanning slides or negatives, regardless of the DPI setting. Color rendition is excellent. I'm likely to upgrade to the Cannon 8800F since my main reason for getting this unit was to scan 1000+ slides and I'm not happy with the quality of the slide scans when compared to other options that I've tried. The best scans I've seen come from a Nikon film scanner, but, unfortunately it does not work under vista, takes only one slide at a time and takes over 5 minutes per scan.

I have never had a product this easy to set up and use. I absolutely love it. It is fast and puts the photos right into iPhoto hassle free. Truly one step scanning. I also own a HP printer #6980 and it is the best printer I have ever owned. Flawless printing.