Having set itself as a stalwart in slimline, ultra-cheap flatbed scanners, Canon is moving into the world of scanners for the serious photographer.

The attractive looks are undermined by average image quality, although it remains good value.

One of the larger form-factor units in this months Labs, Canons 9900F comes with a sexy mag alloy top coating and features a clearly labelled and attractive front control panel for easy single button press access.

Another scanner to share the same software as the LiDE 20, Canon's 3000F boasts a jumbo sized Z-hinge for scanning of books and large bound documents helping to evenly light image scanning – great for students and perfect in conjunction with the quality results gained from the included OCR scanning software.

Thank you to all our subscribers who entered the Canon Scanner Competition and the Home Loan Analyser competition. The Lucky winner of the CanoScan FB320P colour scanner is J Bonney from Waverton.

Thank you to all our subscribers who entered the Canon Scanner Competition and the Home Loan Analyser competition. The Lucky winner of the CanoScan FB320P colour scanner is J Bonney from Waverton.

The Canon LiDE 20 strikes a balance between quality and price. The scanner is well designed, with Z-hinges combined and the space-saving ability to stand upright.

The experience of buying a computer can be a harrowing ordeal -- with the amount of jargon and information being thrown around, inexperienced users or people purchasing their first PC may find it all a bit daunting.