HP makes it easier than ever for businesses to reap the benefits of colour communication

HP has unveiled one of its most extensive and innovative portfolios of colour printers, digital projectors and networking solutions for business professionals. From a lightweight, compact mobile printer for people on the go, to a wide format laser printer capable of producing documents on a variety of media, HP has a colour printer to meet every business need. Simple to use and affordably priced, the printers, projectors and networking solutions provide customers with compelling reasons to make colour printing mainstream.

"From desktop to print shop, there has never been a better time for businesses to adopt professional colour printing," says Robbie Johnson, commercial category manager of the Imaging and Printing Group at HP South Africa. "HP is making the colour printing experience as positive as the monochrome HP LaserJet experience.

For all commercial organisations, using colour in partner, customer and employee communications is essential to making a business stand out from the crowd. Research has shown that printing in colour not only improves comprehension by 75% and increases readership by 40%, but it also accelerates learning from 55% to 75%. According to Robert McCullough, president of respected energy research firm McCullough Research: "Colour is the easiest and most effective way to increase the clarity of a document."

HP`s vision is that colour printers will become the office standard. However, a recent survey conducted among European SMBs by TNSofres, revealed that despite a clear demand for colour printing technology, many European offices do not have colour printers. Outsourcing printing of colour documents fills this gap, yet is a costly and inflexible solution. With its extensive range of colour Deskjet, Business Inkjet and Colour LaserJet printers, HP offers businesses a colour printer to suit every office need.

Some of the specific technological advancements within the new colour printers from HP include:

* In-line technology, for colour printing as fast as black and white printing.
* One-pass printing to reduce print head movements.
* Drop detection and nozzle recovery technologies for constant print quality at high speed.
* Front panel access for quick and easy installation of supplies.
* Intuitive control panels that display text, supplies status gauges and animated graphics simultaneously.
* Flexible, wireless connectivity via infrared, Bluetooth and 802.11b.
* Optimised dots per inch (dpi) and toner enhancements for higher resolution, true-to-life photo quality.
* HP Photoret IV for less grain and true-to-life photo printing.
* Smart colour calibration, smart edge enhancement.
* Second generation of chemically grown toner.
* Four separate colours for reduced cost per page.
* 5/6-inch long-life print heads.

The new line-up of HP colour printers and other products includes:

Designed for the on-the-go professional, the HP Deskjet 450ci/cbi is a compact, high-performance solution for fast, hassle-free, mobile printing. Flexible connectivity options and a long-lasting lithium-ion battery ensure that busy professionals can reliably print from their notebooks and wireless devices. The HP Deskjet 450 has been designed for professionals who need the full features of desktop printing without compromising colour or quality, while away from the office.

The HP Deskjet 450 has print speeds of up to eight pages per minute colour in fast mode and the latest HP Photoret IV technology ensures superior image quality. For added convenience, the high-capacity HP No. 56 black, No. 57 tri-colour or the No. 58 photo print cartridges optimise the number of pages printed without user intervention. An optional auto/airline adapter and carrying case accessories also support on-the-go printing. The HP Deskjet 450ci is available from October 2002.

HP Colour LaserJet 2500 is HP`s most affordable colour laser printer. Designed for the desktop and supporting the smallest footprint and weight of any colour laser printer, the HP Colour LaserJet 2500 delivers high-quality printing of up to 4ppm in colour and up to 16ppm in black and white. This printer is ideal for small businesses, small work teams or individual users who need a black and white and colour printer for general office use or short runs of promotional materials. Extremely simple and easy-to-use, the HP Colour LaserJet 2500 offers optional network printing and increased media flexibility. The HP Colour LaserJet 2500 is available in SA now.

Designed together with the new printer, the HP Colour LaserJet 2500 print cartridges work with HP`s second generation of chemically-grown toners and integrated smart printing features ensuring great print quality, reliable printing processes and intelligent supplies management.

The HP Business Inkjet 3000 is the ideal colour printer for workgroups. It boasts an extremely low colour cost per page as well as "laser-equivalent" speeds of 10 pages per minute in monochrome and eight pages per minute in colour. Sophisticated laser-compatible networking and software as well as advanced paper handling, with up to 1 100 page input and 300 page output, make it easy to integrate into a multitude of business environments. Exceptional print quality is assured using HP Photoret III and print resolutions of up to 2400 x 1200dpi. With the incorporated smart printing technology, the new HP supplies for the Business Inkjet 3000 constantly monitor ink levels and print head performance, informing the user proactively about necessary replacements. The HP Business Inkjet 3000 will be available in SA from November 2002.

The HP Colour LaserJet 4600 outperforms its predecessor, the HP Colour LaserJet 4550, printing A4 size documents at 16 pages per minute in both colour and monochrome. HP`s inductive heat fuser technology enables the Colour LaserJet 4600 to print the first page in less than 19 seconds from both ready and power save mode.

Innovative firmware and hardware enhancements reduce forced calibrations, maximizing printer uptime. In addition, HP smart print supplies enable chips placed inside the toner cartridges to eliminate any unnecessary calibrations and allow quick printing from the first page.

The HP LaserJet 4600 is also equipped with a new 400MHz processor and industry-leading standard memory configurations that are expandable up to 416MB. This feature ensures that the printer will perform to maximum capacity at all times.

The HP Colour LaserJet 5500 provides high speed A4 and wide-format printing that supports a variety of custom media sizes for workgroups and business creatives. The HP Colour LaserJet 5500 also features in-line technology that prints high quality documents in colour at the same speed of 22ppm as in black and white, as well as robust networking capabilities, a simple paper path, easy-to-load consumables and a graphics-based interface. HP`s second generation of chemically-grown toners deliver best print quality with a vibrant, lifelike colour appearance and sharp, crisp black text. The HP Colour LaserJet 5500 is available now.

Speedy turnaround with uncompromising image quality is vital for print service providers, graphics and mapping professionals. The HP Designjet 5500 is a large-format printer designed to meet those requirements with high-speed production printing modes and a driverless, Web-based printing path.

The HP Designjet 5500 also supports a wide range of printing materials up to 60-inches wide, as well as dye-based inks and ultraviolet pigment-based inks. The printer is available in SA now.

The HP Designjet 100 multiformat colour printer offers provides a cost-effective, colour printing of office, CAD and oversize documents, from proposals to drawings from a single device. Modular, individually replaceable supplies make colour budget-friendly while eliminating outsourcing costs for occasional large-format needs and efficient control of the amount of ink used through print-quality mode selection.

With high quality, professional results and outstanding performance, it produces consistently superb photo quality and crisp, sharp lines and text, at speed and a maximum print resolution of 1200 x 600dpi. Text, lines and images print at up to 11ppm for letter size in Fast mode and 90 seconds per page for an A1-size drawing in Fast mode. Precise ink placement ensures crisp, sharp lines and text smart printing features control the interaction between the printheads, ink cartridges, and print media to optimise print quality.

Ideal for rich multimedia and graphics-intensive presentations, the HP Digital Projector xb31 and sb21 are designed for mobile professionals. They provide bright, sharp, clear images for high-quality presentations in any setting, are easy-to-use and lightweight to ensure worry-free, professional presentations with HP reliability, compatibility, and versatility. As the brightest projector in the 1.5kg class with 1500 lumens and 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, the HP Digital Projector xb31 has the power and functionality to impress any crowd anywhere. For the highly mobile executive, the HP Digital Projectors sb21 with 1000 lumens and 800 x 600 SVGA resolution optimises portability without sacrificing brightness. The HP Digital Projector xb31 and sb21 is available in SA now.

New networking options from HP provide wireless connectivity and simple network management. The HP Jetdirect 280m internal printer server enables 802.11b wireless network sharing of HP LIO printers and peripherals. Mac or PC users can use the HP Jetdirect 280m as a simple, upgradeable tool to share a printer in a variety of network environments. The HP Jetdirect 280m is available now.

HP is also announcing a new version of its Web-based peripheral management utility, HP Web Jetadmin 7.0. In response to the growing need for peripheral management solutions, HP Web Jetadmin 7.0 allows LAN administrators to manage HP and non-HP printers easily and remotely on the same network. With HP Web Jetadmin 7.0 it is possible to install, manage and trouble-shoot network peripherals from anywhere on the intranet with a standard Web browser.