Newbie wonders..how to network two laptops (one XP, one W7) and printer?

I am a newbie to networking and I have what I hope is a pretty basic networking question.

I moved my old Dell laptop (Windows XP) to my study, next to my printer and router. I have my new Dell 1558 (Windows 7) in the kitchen.

I want to be able to "network" the two laptops together and be able to use the printer from both laptops. I basically want to be able to easily transfer files between the two and view files from one laptop, that reside on the other.

Are there any sites, links, walkthroughs etc. that would help me do this? Windows 7 is not exactly helpful. When I got my first laptop, I did lots of research and figured out how to network it to my old computer and printer, but it's been 4 years, and I know a lot has changed..especially since one laptop is now using Windows 7 and the other XP.

My printer is 5 years old and thus i don't think is "wirelessly network ready" or whatever the term is. Thus I think I'd have to plug it into my old Dell in the study and then wirelessly link my new Dell to the old Dell in order to print.

Help please??

Thanks in advance!

 

I googled: "share a printer with xp and windows 7 computer"
first result:
Solved XP to 7 Printer sharing - Windows 7 Forums

 

Thanks gmoney. I actually played a bit and figured out my problem was simply not having the Printer shared. Soon as I made it "shared", problem solved.

I sure thought it was going to be a lot more difficult.

One related question.. with my current setup, I have to have the study laptop always ON in order to print..since my kitchen laptop networks wirelessly to that, but the study computer uses a cable to connect to the printer.

I assume all printers sold these days are "wireless" so that I could hook directly from the kitchen laptop to the printer using wireless capability? And thus not have to rely on the study laptop being on?

Thanks,

 

Yes, or you could get one that connects using a wire to your wireless router as well.
Whatever works easiest for you and makes the most sense.
The printer I have (and has been asked about twice in the past 2 days on the forum) is the Brother HL-2170w. It has both wired and wireless networking capabilities. Has been on sale cheap at newegg (got it for $89 + tax CAN$) and is a good reliable printer for me thus far (going on 2 years now). I have it set up wirelessly.

 

Basically, yes. Not all printers sold are wireless, so you need to look for the wifi or network capable designation on the printer's feature list. I actually got a nice Samsung wifi laser printer for our network, and it's been awesome. There's a color version that's going for only $150, too.

 

We use ours for printing photos so I want to make sure I get one that does that well. It's probably about 50/50 photos/documents. It works fine right now, so I guess I'll deal with turning on the other laptop each time. It's annoying but cheaper than buying a new printer.

Thanks!