My wife and I over the years have had several HP Deskjets and Office
Jets (460, 782, etc.) and have loved them all. I have also worked with
Epsons and find them quite acceptable. I find HPs ever so slightly
easier to use over a LAN, both at home and in my lab.
I use Netscape email and like it fine. My wife uses IE4 email and also
finds it easy to use. On her machine every once in a while I will
accidentally fire up Outlook will using IE4 and I absolutely detest
Outlook. If you are willing to spend the bucks Eudora is still the best
PC/Mac email program for most people. By the way, although I do have a
UNIX workstation with all sorts of email programs, I prefer to use
Netscape for the "look and feel" of the my PC.
Whatever printer you buy be sure to download the newest drivers before
you install the printer.