Prints or Negs?

[flow]

I have this box full of prints and negatives going back basically to elementary school. I'd like to digitize these (and maybe some more, if I can get my parents to part with them temporarily). I have a printer/scanner (flatbed), but it doesn't do negatives. Would I get acceptable quality from the scans if I run the prints through there, or would it be worth it to spring for a scanner that can do negatives - will that get significantly better quality?
Or does it matter, is it just a matter of preference?

 

[BlackSheep]

I'm no technical expert, but from my experience it's much better to scan the negs.

That being said, it also depends on the quality of the scanner that you have, and what the end product will be used for. Depending on what you have, the print scans may be quite good enough. I had a bunch of family photos (prints only) that I scanned for my mom, and she was more than happy with how they looked; all she wanted was a "computer version" of her photos.