Slide scanner recommendations

To any who have experience with a slide scanner:
My father has years worth of slides from traveling and has selected out a few hundred that he would like to transfer to digital and keep on his Mac.
I am pretty well versed in Photoshop and Illustrator while learning to use Aperture but have no experience in scanning 35 mm slides to digital format.
Since I respect this community, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on a good photo or slide scanner that won't break the bank but will still provide excellent results (let's say less than $500, but preferably less than $300).
Or am I just sitting on a cloud and there really isn't anything on a high quality level that fits in that budget?
Note - I tend to be somewhat picky in my hardware (evidenced by my switching to a Mac platform and Apple hardware), thus I turn to you all.
Thanks for any input (or even ideas other than scanning at home).
I have a few errands to run, but will check back later for any responses.
TIA -

I have scanned several thousand slides using a Nikon Coolscan V ED - sadly, I believe out of production. My first effort was with a Minolta ScanDual IV - nice machine with a slick four slide carrier, but the absence of infrared cleaning was a show stopper. Some thoughts:
-- Dedicated slide/film scanners produce much better results than flat bed adapters.
-- Vuescan is very nice software, much better and faster than NikonScan.
-- I have found no need for Photoshop; Aperture is more than enough, with, perhaps, the exception of really cracked emulsion skies, where layers may be needed to clean up.
-- Infrared cleaning is almost essential for older slides; often being better than actual physical cleaning.
-- It is amazing what you can clean up, but still, GIGO. If it is a poorly exposed, out of focus, thirty year old slide processed by a low cost lab, then digital scanning isn't going to help much.
-- I scan to TIFF (100+MB) because I don't want to scan again and because I want as much data to work with as possible. Newer, less damaged slides may be fine scanned to JPEG.
My website has many examples.
Best wishes!

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