Robin wrote:

On scanners, if you do not intend to
switch from XP soon then there are a lot of basic scanners going cheap
which are not compatible with Windows Vista/7.

Indeed HP seem to be using Win7 as something of a culling-point for
printers they consider to be "too old" and not releasing drivers for
them, when in fact the Vista drivers work just fine ... given how many
years and Windows versions they've supported HP LaserJet III and above
that's pretty shoddy.