In the Charts: Film and Slide Scanning, Now Showing at an MFP Near You New MFPs can scan negatives and slides. Plus: a gadget-packed laptop, and a new crop of digital cameras. Edited by the Reviews Staff From the June 2005 issue of PC World magazine Posted Tuesday, May 03, 2005 Liens Commerciaux Two inkjet multifunction printers we tested this month have their sights set on more than just digital photography: They are taking aim at the dusty shoe boxes full of old negatives and slides tucked away in your closet or attic. The Canon Pixma MP760 and the Epson Stylus Photo RX620 are the first inkjet MFPs we've tested that can scan film, something we'd seen only dedicated scanners do in the past. Both models come with adapters that hold film negatives or slides, and both have a light in the lid for capturing the images. Advertisement Not all of these MFPs target photographers. Though the HP OfficeJet 7210 All-In-One and the Brother MFC-5840CN don't scan transparencies, each has an ethernet port and an automatic document feeder, making them well suited for the workplace. Both of our Best Buys, the OfficeJet 7210 and the Pixma MP760, deliver a level of versatility we haven't seen in previous MFPs. The 7210 prints high-quality glossy photos, and the slide-scanning MP760 prints sharp text quickly and makes accurate copies. Plus, the MP760 has a duplexer for making two-sided prints and documents. The Canon Pixma MP780 is the only other model we tested that offers a duplexer as a standard item. These feature-rich models have one drawback, however: Their prices are higher than those of our previous batch. The last time we tested inkjet MFPs, the best-performing device cost $200. This time around, each Best Buy costs $300, and the average price of all chart-makers is over $220. Notebooks A new desktop replacement laptop and a new all-purpose model make their debut on the chart this month. The HP Compaq Nx9600 is a 17-inch wide-screen notebook equipped with lots of goodies for gadget junkies. In addition to a six-in-one media card reader, the Nx9600 features a next-generation ExpressCard slot, the PC Card slot replacement that will accept new, fast adapters for everything from flash storage to high-speed networking (see "Faster ExpressCards Shown at CeBIT"). The Nx9600 also provides a small internal bay for HP's SD-based 128MB USB Digital Drive, a $25 extra. Like many HP laptops, the Nx9600 includes a proprietary side connection for fitting into HP's $250 Xb2000 expansion base--a desktop stand with a speaker and a hard-drive bay. Even sans expansion base, the Nx9600 offers excellent sound for a laptop, making it a well-rounded desktop replacement on its own. A very short battery life of 1 hour, 20 minutes decreases its utility outside the office, however. It arrives on the chart at number four. The WinBook W364, a large but fairly lightweight (6.4-pound) black-and-silver unit, slips into fifth place on the all-purpose list. The W364 is well equipped for an $1899 laptop, including a rewritable DVD drive and a three-in-one card reader. Digital audio fans will like the S/PDIF port, and the keyboard is extremely firm. Our only beef is that the lid latch is a little difficult to slide. Inside Info Sharp Shooters: PC World tests Nikon's highly anticipated Coolpix 5600 and 7900 digital cameras. With its 7.1-megapixel spec, the 7900 looks wonderful on paper, but the 5.1-megapixel 5600 delivered the most accurate color and exposure on the chart. More on the Web: PC World uses its industry-standard benchmarking application, WorldBench 5, to evaluate the performance of desktop PCs, notebooks, and tablet PCs. We run a number of real-world applications performing real-world computing tasks. See the WorldBench 5 page for more information on the tool. And see more details about PC World's Star Ratings. The Top 100 Team: Freelance writer Paul Jasper, Contributing Editor Carla Thornton, and PC World editors Laura Blackwell, Eric Butterfield, Tracey Capen, Kalpana Ettenson, Tom Mainelli, Melissa J. Perenson, Narasu Rebbapragada, Dan Sommer, and Alan Stafford contributed to the Top 100 section this month. Ulrike Diehlmann, Julio Giannobile, Elliott Kirschling, Jeff Kuta, Tony K. Leung, Thomas Luong, and William Wang of the PC World Test Center tested all of the products reviewed in this section, with logistical support provided by Julian Weatherby.