Scan Resolution: Optical vs. Enhanced?

[jimnms]

I'd like to have a separate scanner and printer, but I don't have the room for both. I've found a laser printer/copier/scanner that I like. Even though the printer/copier part is B&W, the scanner is color.

The specs say the optical scan resolution is 600x600dpi with 4800x4800dpi enhanced. What does the enhanced resolution mean? Is that like the useless digital zoom on a digital camera? Whould this be good for scanning photos?

 

[HorsePunchKid]

The specs say the optical scan resolution is 600x600dpi with 4800x4800dpi enhanced. What does the enhanced resolution mean? Is that like the useless digital zoom on a digital camera? Whould this be good for scanning photos?

I'm pretty sure that all you're getting at 4800dpi is an 8x interpolation of the 600dpi data. So yes, I believe the analogy to "digital zoom" is reasonable. There is some small benefit to having a scanner capable of interpolating to a higher resolution in terms of work flow, perhaps, but you could get the same effect by scaling the scan in Photoshop, presumably.