The invention relates to an inspection system for inspecting the surfaces of wafers, LCD's and film substrates for flaws. The system includes a scanning laser inspection system for quickly inspecting the surface and identifying and locating the flaws. The system generates and displays a flaw map graphically illustrating the article surface and the respective locations of the flaws for subsequent optical inspection. The operator selects a flaw and an optical inspection system is positioned over the selected flaw to provide a magnified image of the flaw. The operator may optically inspect all or any number of the flaws. The invention also includes means for spectrometrically analyzing the reflected light to further identify the flaw.