HP prints a warning for the opposition

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According to Margaret Ong, vice president of Commercial Volume for HP Asia Pacific's Imaging and Printing group, the new printers represent the company's focus on optimizing its products to the specific requirements of the local user. Particularly in the Asia market, Ong explained that HP printers are designed to be affordable and resilient enough to operate in a stressful environment.

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When queried on HP's definition of a stressful printing environment, Cheryl Carruth, product manager for monochrome LaserJets, HP Asia Pacific, clarified that based on the company's findings, a large number of printers are operating in very high-dust and humid environments. Since such adverse working conditions are typical in the India and China markets, the new printers are built purposely to withstand it.

Carruth added that some of the printers such the LaserJet 1018 are especially built from the ground up for Asia. For example, when HP designers discovered that tracing paper was used widely in China as a print media, the LaserJet 1018 was designed with roller feeds capable of handling this ultra-thin paper.

HP also touted its OfficeJets as the most economic solution for small businesses looking to produce their own creative collaterals. Quoting research figures, Ong claimed that an HP OfficeJet 9120 would keep printing costs lower than printing with a third-party vendor up to a 1,500 print run. HP predicts this cost factor will help drive the growth of its color printer products, and in turn, the Palo Alto giant states that one of its business goals is to fully dominate the in-house collateral printing market.

Model name	In a nutshell
HP Color LaserJet 1600 Click for more images	Notable features: Printing speed of up to 8ppm in both color and mono Faster first print (within 20 seconds) with Instant-on technology Single door access for toner cartridge replacement Two-line LCD display 264MHz processor Availability: April 2006 Price: No information Who is it for: The cheapest of HP's new line LaserJets, the LaserJet 1600 represents good value for money for the small business which does not wish to compromise decent performance for a shoestring budget.
HP Color LaserJet 2605/2605dtn Click for more images	Notable features: Printing speed of 10ppm for color and 12 ppm for mono Faster first print (within 20 seconds) with Instant-on technology Automatic two-sided printing Two-line LCD display 300MHz processor Built-in 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet/Fast Ethernet printer server Built-in photo memory card slot (dtn model only) Availability: May 2006 Price: No information Who is it for: A step up from the LaserJet 1600, the LaserJet 2605 is suitable for a small business outfit looking to up its game with a slightly more powerful printing solution.
HP LaserJet 1018 Click for more images	Notable features: Printing speed of 12ppm in mono First print from PowerSafe mode in less than 10 seconds Cost-saving host-based print driver uses PC's processor and memory instead of printers. Allows for complex jobs without the cost of additional printer memory Availability: May 2006 (China, India)                   June 2006 (Taiwan) Price: US$129 Who is it for: One of the smallest laser printers on the market, the LaserJet 1018 is catered for the micro business to which cost savings is the most important factor.
HP LaserJet 5200 Click for more images	Notable features: Printing speed of 35ppm in mono Faster first print (within 10 seconds) with Instant-on technology 1,200 x 1,200dpi print quality Duo CompactFlash slots for third party solutions Open EIO slot allows for feature expandability such as IPv6/IPsec Gigabit networking or HP EIO hard disk 460MHz processor and 512MB expandable memory Two-line display Availability: May 2006 Price: US$999 Who is it for: A premium quality printer certainly doesn't come cheap, but for businesses which values advanced network A3 printing and fast print speeds, the LaserJet 5200 comes highly recommended.
HP LaserJet 5200L Click for more images	Notable features: Printing speed of 25ppm in mono Faster first print (within 10 seconds) with Instant-on technology 1,200 x 1,200dpi print quality Supports optional HP Jetdirect external print servers 460MHz processor and 128MB expandable memory Two-line display Larger than A3 size printing Downloadable HP Easy Printer Care software and HP Universal Print Driver for fuss-free printer management. Availability: 26 May 2006 Price: US$799 Who is it for: For business outfits which demand to see things in a bigger picture, the LaserJet 5200L promises dependable performance even for multiple users.