two quick questions: 1)whats the difference between a laser printer and an inkjet printer? 2)is it possible to a share a scanner between two computers?

A laser printer uses toner to form waterproof/smudgeproof images. An inkjet applies water based ink. Any computer on a network can share any data on that computer with any other computer on the network, given the right parameters.

Sharing a scanner over a network, huh? I never thought about that , but it doesn't seem feasable. For one thing, you'd have to be physically at the scanner to put the document or picture in it that you want scanned, and then go back to your networked PC - makes no sense. On top of that the scanner software is going to prompt the user for a file name, where to save the file, ect. It's not like sharing out a printer. As far as I know it's not possible. Somebody out there may know more than I, but I don't believe there is any type of "front end" and "back end" type of scanner software, I think it needs to be done from a local machine. Laser and Ink Jet's are two entirely different technologies. If looking for home use, look ink jet. Color Lasers are prohibitively expensive. If your only looking for crisp B&W text, then there are some affordable lasers, but stick with ink jet otherwise.