The AstraSlim is the cheapest of the scanners in this group test and also the slowest, but in its favour it is remarkable thin - just 34mm - and the images it produces belie its price and performance.

Its thinness is explained by the fact that, unlike all the other scanners reviewed here, the Umax AstraSlim doesn't use a CCD chip. Instead it uses CIS (Contact Image Sensors). These sensors sit very close to the document being scanned and send the scanned image straight to the PC, so there's need for bulky and expensive lenses, mirrors and chips. The downside of using this method is that the temporary files are very large, while resolution, clarity and colour sharpness are all sacrificed to some extent.

For this reason the AstraSlim is best used with a pretty powerful system with at least 128MB RAM, and preferably a lot more because of the size of the temporary files required.

Despite this, the images that the AstraSlim produces would shame many of the more expensive scanners. Having said that, although details and textures are well reproduced, colours are on the dim side, and it takes an age to scan. A full colour A4 page took an incredible 250 seconds to scan, but this is also down to the limitations of the scanner's USB1.1 interface.

The bundled software package is very usable and is ideal for beginners; it's just lacking in features for more advanced users. The same can be said for the ReadIRIS OCR software package; fast but with no frills. Umax backs the AstraSlim with a two-year warranty.

Business users will not give the UltraSlim a second glance, but if all you want to do is to scan some pictures at home then the UltraSlim is a cheap and easy to use solution.