Help a newb with color profiles

[pocketfulladoubles]

Hi, I have an Epson 4870 Photo scanner and 2400 printer that have been sitting around for a while collecting dust. I lost the transparency holder for it, but was planning on getting the BetterScanning holder anyway. I've got a pretty marginal Viewsonic VX series now, but wouldn't object to getting a used NEC if calibrating it would be significantly better.

I'm obviously no pro - just enjoying my large format hobby, but wanting to get the best scans and prints on a limited budget. Here are my questions. As you'll be able to tell, I don't know at all what I am doing:

1) I see that I can upgrade to SilverFast Ai IT8 Studio with printer-calibration and multi-exposure. Would this be sufficient? Are there better options? Do I still use the EZColor software that came with the scanner?

2) What's is a decent used monitor that will stand a halfway decent chance of being calibrated? What calibrator would you get, and would this affect anything in question 1?

Edit: I should note that I currently have the basic Silverfast and EZColor software that came with the scanner.


Thank you,
Tim