I do not know what scanner you should purchase, but I would definetly stay away from Microtek. Those scanners seem to give me nothing but problems. When deciding which printer to purchase, make sure you check out the specs online before purchasing. Both HP and Epson, make excellent printers. If you are looking at buying an ink jet printer, however, make sure the printer heads are built in with the ink cartrages. Some of the older Epson printers have their heads seperate from the ink cartages. This becomes a problem when the heads need to be replaced because they are very expensive. I do not know if Epson has changed this for all of their new printers, but I would definetly check it out first.