Best Scanner for Mac | Top 3 OSX scanners in 2020

Today we are looking at the best scanner for mac. We have selected 3 different models, that should work well with the Macintosh OS systems, and even transfer data directly to OSX devices.

One of the devices is a wireless scanner for mac while all of them can be used as a desktop scanner for mac, osx or other operating systems from this manufacturer.

We have not included photo scanners for mac or even flatbed scanners, as we have focused on office ADF scanners designed specifically for text documents. You will find these products on amazon and you can also check price for each one.

A bonus is that all of these devices will easily work with Windows or even Linux solutions if needed, so you are not stuck on a Mac if needed. The device which we recommend, includes software specifically designed for mac and pc, but it can also be used with wireless connectivity to scan directly to google drive

Best Scanner for Mac | Top 3 OSX scanners in 2020
ProductFormatScanning areaConnectivitySheets per minuteImages per minuteADF SizeDaily Duty CyclePrice

Panasonic KV-S1026C

Panasonic KV-S1026C
A48.27 in x 11.69 inUSB 2.0306050 sheets2,000 sheetsClick for more info

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W
A4 – 215.9 mm x 355.6 mm ( 8.5 in. x 14.0 in.)Gigabit Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or Wifi30PPM60IPM50 Sheets3000 SheetsClick for more info
Our choice

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500
A48.27 in x 11.69 inUSB 3.1, WiFi306050 sheets400 sheetsClick for more info


Let’s have a look at each product in particular.

Panasonic KV-S1026C

ProductFormatScanning areaConnectivitySheets per minuteImages per minuteADF SizeDaily Duty CyclePrice

Panasonic KV-S1026C

Panasonic KV-S1026C
A48.27 in x 11.69 inUSB 2.0306050 sheets2,000 sheetsClick for more info
The Panasonic KV-S1026C is a small, entry level document scanner from Panasonic. It’s designed to run at 30 pages per minute, which is not a very high scanning speed.

The design of this scanner is more suited for compact desktop use, rather for very intricate production level document scanning. For example, the daily duty cycle is more suited to light usage, considering the value is somewhere around 2000 sheets.

Besides these, the scanner offers a long document scanning mode, which typically means that the scanner is not limited to the length of an A4 page, rather it can go longer, somewhere around 100 inches for this model.

Now, let’s get back to the topic and look a bit at what it offers in terms of connectivity to your macbook. First of all the driver. For windows it comes with an ISIS and Twain version, but for Mac you can only connect it through the TWAIN version of the driver.

What I also like about this scanner is that it offers an ICA driver for macbook, which does not happen very often with other devices.

Another great element regarding the connectivity to a mac computer comes with the special software, the IMage Capture Plus Express Package.

It may not have all the features that the full software has, but at least it’s a full on scanning software, and you don’t have to waste further time looking for another mac software.

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W

ProductFormatScanning areaConnectivitySheets per minuteImages per minuteADF SizeDaily Duty CyclePrice

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W
A4 – 215.9 mm x 355.6 mm ( 8.5 in. x 14.0 in.)Gigabit Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or Wifi30PPM60IPM50 Sheets3000 SheetsClick for more info
I think we’ve already talked about the Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W before, but we can certainly go over its specs once again.

We like this scanner, as it’s quite a fair product. The scanning speed is around 30ppm which is more or less identical to the Panasonic KV-S1026C model. While it has a slightly higher daily duty cycle, at 3000 sheets, the ADF size is identical to the one in the Panasonic.

A great thing about this model, when compared to the prior one is the connectivity. It comes fitted with a Gigabit Ethernet connection and Wifi, over the USB 2.0. Compared to some canon imageformula models, this may provide a lower performance, but it’s also much cheaper.

This means that you can use the USB connection to create the ideal desktop scanner for mac. Another thing you can do is just plug the scanner into the router and use it as a digital sender. This way, you can send scanned data over FTP or to certain folders, not needing a special Macbook drive.r

The same thing goes for the Wi-Fi, you can use it to scan over a wireless network or to your OSX smartphone or tablet, if you use the appropriate scanning app.

Regarding the mac connection, you can use the scanner with a driver for versions of mac os 10.12 up to 10.15. Also, for the OS X 10.8 up to OSX 10.11.

Besides the drivers, an ICA and TWAIN version, you can download the ABBYY Finereader Sprint to create searchable PDF’s on your MAC device.

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500

ProductFormatScanning areaConnectivitySheets per minuteImages per minuteADF SizeDaily Duty CyclePrice

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500
A48.27 in x 11.69 inUSB 3.1, WiFi306050 sheets400 sheetsClick for more info
What can we say about the Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500 scanner that we haven’t said already. This scanning system is one of our favorite devices.

I will go over the specs very briefly, just to manage to get quickly to our main topic, the Macbook compatibility. Mostly, this is a color duplex scanner, that replaced the already popular Fujitsu Scansnap ix500.

The scanner scans documents up to A4 in size, with a speed of around 30 pages per minute in simplex mode. This device comes with automatic duplex, so capturing both sides of a document should not be a problem.

I would not go on and use this as purposely built photos scanners. Compared to the Epson fastfoto FF680W, it should be more or less there. But I guess the Epson will feed photos a bit better. Maybe an Epson Perfection V600 flatbed scanner or even the perfection v370 would be a bit better suited for this, or even a plustek photo scanner.

The ADF size is more or less identical to the previous scanners, somewhere around 50 sheets. I would have expected a slightly larger daily duty cycle, but I guess for such a small scanner it should not really matter.

One of the main features that I really like on this device is the Wifi connectivity. Oh, and besides that, it also comes with a touchscreen, so if you want, you can use the scanner without a macbook or pc attached to it.

This scanner is compatible with more Mac OS systems, such as the MacOs Catalina, Mojave, Sierra or even High Sierra v10.13. On all of them you can run the Scansnap Home scanning software and also the Abbyy Finereader for Scansnap. This provides decent results for optical character recognition.

This software allows you to OCR your scanned documents and convert them to searchable PDF or even Microsoft Word files.


Which is the best scanner for MacOS or OSX ?

Out of all these 3 models, we would definitely go for the Fujitsu Scansnap ix1500. It’s the most versatile out of all the 3 and it’s the newest one. Plust we really love the reliability and the quality of the Fujitsu scanners in general.

Also, the Scansnap Home scanning software is a pretty good one, especially that it comes in the box, and you don’t have to spend extra for it. The Abbyy FineReader for Scansnap is a great addition, considering you will want at some point to create OCR files from your scanned documents.

The Brother ADS-2800W is what we would call the popular choice. Just like the Fujitsu it has support for Mac OS Catalin, Mojave and the Sierra OS’s. But we just like the Fujitsu that bit more, that’s why we would preffer it over the Brother. If you do however want an ethernet scanner for Mac, then go for the Brother in that case.

The Pansonic KV-S1026C is not a bad scanner, but it can only be used as a desktop scanner for Mac, given that it only has an USB connectivity. And it’s also missing an Abbyy OCR software to recognize characters.

Which do you think is the best scanner for mac, and also let us know your opinion on these scanners.

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