I have experience of two HP multifunction printers - one bottom of the line, one nearer the top - and both of them were problematic; in fact, the expensive one had to go back to the shop after a week because it was being such a pain. (At one point, for example, it decided that the cartridges inside were completely empty, and there was no way I could get it to 'reset' its decision.) So I would steer clear of those - their standalone printers do seem to have quite a good reputation though (well, their pricier ones do anyway).
I also have experience of using an Epson RX425 (or maybe it was 420... same thing anyway, just for some reason it has two different model numbers). This was a cheap MFC and, well, it just about worked... sort of. It didn't do anything stupid like the HP I described above, but it seemed that nearly every time it was used the cartridges needed to be cleaned. This meant that, instead of just turning it on, sticking a sheet of paper in the scanner and copying it, you had to faff around doing a nozzle check then probably cleaning etc. to keep it working. Having said that, if you're a frequent user of the printer part that might not be a problem.
Going up the pricing ladder I have also used a much more expensive Epson photo-oriented multi-function printer. This was excellent: pretty reliable, and produced great quality photos and scans. (Well, 'great quality' relative to my photographic experience at the time - which is to say, great to the average person, although now I'm more experienced with photography I don't know what I'd think of it.)
Finally, my mother and I now use a Brother laser multifunction. In terms of reliability it's fantastic - it's never put a foot wrong. However, the drivers and supplied software are... appalling, although this is for Mac (the Windows software may well be better). This is quite a pain because it's a great bit of hardware, but it sometimes feels we can barely take advantage of it because of the poor software! One positive of a laser MFC worth considering is that taking a photocopy with one is a lot faster than with an inkjet - once it's warmed up it's ready to go, and it doesn't take a minute or two to print every page. I should also point out that, whilst we love our Brother laser MFC, I have heard that their inkjet MFCs (which are inherently cheaper) are also of somewhat poorer quality.
(Btw, in case you're wondering, not all of the printers mentioned have been mine! Some have been my mother's, but I've inadvertently had to help her use them.)
Now on to the subject of scanners. If you're willing to spend some money - maybe, say, £75-£100 - Epson do some very nice standalone flatbed scanners that can scan in negatives and slides. And the results are actually good: probably about three/four years ago I did an experiment where I scanned in a negative using my Epson scanner and printed it using my Epson photo printer, and the results were actually better than the print Boots had produced straight from the film.
So, that leads us to the quandary of what you should do. I'm afraid your request for a 'good cheap way to achieve [your] aim' is a paradox: it's not going to happen. You can either not spend very much money, and get something that's absolute rubbish, or you can spend more money than you're probably willing to to get something (or things) that work. I probably should point out though that I have no experience of Canon printers and so on. Canon are a photographically-oriented company so you may find they have a model suitable for you. Having said that, my experience with Canon cameras certainly doesn't make me enthusiastic about their reliability...
In sum, after an extremely lengthy post, there is no right answer: you're going to have to put up with some compromises. Indeed, after hearing my experiences you may decide to just keep the equipment you've got (maybe upgrading the scanner at a later date) - which wouldn't be all that bad an idea IMHO, if it all works to your satisfaction.
Been thinking whether I should update some of my bits 'n pieces. Presently I use a HP Deskjet 5150 for any printing (text and photo) and a Canon Canoscan N670U. Amongst other things the physical set up and ambience is a tad clunky, so I am thinking of going multifunction. At moment I am on XP Home and am not immediately going Vista, but some future proofing might be advantageous. ( on that your opinions?)
but I cannot find your £21.88 item, PP
