New lap-top and printer

I'mgoing to retire my old Lexmark X5650 printer and take my eMachines tower (XP) off the internet. I plan to use it for photo editing and Quicken.

I'm currently leaning towards an Epson WF-2540 printer, as it can handle DWs iPad's Airprint as well as Win 7/MS office ePrint.

The laptop I'm currently interested in is a Lenovo B590. I think a 15.6" screen is ample for my needs and Amazon has this particular machine with Win 7.

Any comments (particularly any "gotchas ")?

 

Hi Frank, not making the move to W8.1 yet? Funny that the Epson Printer Model you mention is the same Model # as my HP Wireless All in One printer - 2540 !! Neil.

 

Lexmark X5650 printer will work on Win 7 and Win 8. There are drivers for both 32 and 64 bit for it.
I do run both 7 and 8 and like them both about equal. Any reason why you aren't getting Win 8?

 

I sure would recommend W8 over W7. W7 was and still is an excellent OS, but it is already pushing 5 years old!!!! Installing W7 on new hardware today is fast forwarding your system into retirement, and into the same situation XP is in today.

W8 is more secure and faster. Nuff said.

If the complaint with Windows 8/8.1 is primarily the Windows 8 "metro" style Start Page and user interface (UI), then I recommend you check out Start8. Start8 brings back the familiar W7 Start Orb and Start Menu and lets you boot directly to the Windows Desktop instead of the Windows 8 "Start Screen" that so many people dislike. Then W8 works and looks and feels almost exactly like the familiar W7. It cost $5 (after a 30-day trial period), but it is well worth it IMO.

See also Classic Shell. This product also brings back the Start Orb and menu, is free and very popular too. However, it has extra features and goodies that many (including myself) feel is unneeded "fluff ". And perhaps because it is a free product it does not "appear" to have the "polished feel" of Start8. That said, it works very well so a few rough edges can easily be overlooked.

StartIsBack and Pokki are two more popular start screen alternatives. StartIsBack is not free, but pretty close at $3. However, like Classic Shell, it has extra features and user options many users just don't need.

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That said, while technically, W7 (or W8) will run "adequately" in 4Gb of RAM, you will definitely see significantly better performance with 8Gb. More RAM can provide significant compensation for a lessor CPU and graphics solution, as well as minimizing the Page File banging on the sloooowwww hard drive.

32-bit needs to go away - along with XP. If you insist on 4Gb, at least get 64-bit Windows so you can use all the 4Gb.

Smart move! Note you "should" be able to block Internet access to and from this machine in your router's menu. You should also be able to block access to and from this machine in your other computers firewall menus.

Then you can keep this XP system on your local network, and use it as a NAS device (network attached storage) - a backup server. That's what I do. Then when ready to backup My Documents, for example, I unblock in my local firewall, then when I see this system, I can simply drag and drop a copy of My Documents (or entire drives, if I want, and have the space).

This is a viable and practical "re-purposing" of the XP system that at least for now, keeps some old electronics and its hazardous materials out of landfills and dumps.