If you've ever thought about severing the umbilical cord to your local print shop and producing your own marketing materials, then you're just the kind of small business owner that HP's trying to woo. The company's announcing eight new printers — plus new services and updated software — designed to help SMBs produce their own professional results.

According to Tom Codd, HP's director of marketing, small businesses can save time and money by producing marketing collateral in house. "Printing your own brochures, flyers and mailers gives your marketing team more flexibility," said Codd. "You aren't locked in to a 1,000 print run commitment. Printing in-house lets you update and refresh materials and print only what you need at any given time."

Codd also pointed out that HP's quality printers, toner and paper produce professional results that can make a small company look much larger and competitive. "We've refined our toners, paper printers and software to improve the end result. Our products have been designed to work together for an optimal result that can help small businesses save time, money and materials."

Services and Software
One of the solutions to aid small businesses with in-house publishing includes a relationship with iStockphoto.com, a stock-image company with more than 700,000 images available and ranging in price from $1 to $40. You can access the image library through HP's in-house marketing portal.

HP's other new service, the One-Time Replacement Care Pack, lets you receive a one-time replacement of your printer should it fail (after it's gone through a troubleshooting process with HP's tech support). The service costs $99.

In the enhanced software department, HP's updated its Universal Print Driver Series for Windows. The company designed its one-driver-fits-all solution to let you manage several HP devices on a network. Well, almost all. The driver does not support the LaserJet 1018 or the Color LaserJet 1600.

The new software features include support for Postscript Level 3; user, printer and job status; supplies notification and support for more printers.

The HP Color LaserJet 2605

A Plethora of Printers
Here's a listing of HP's newest printers. They run the range from monochrome-only to color to multi-function, and you'll find more detailed information about these products at HP's Web site.

Laser Printing in Black and White
HP LaserJet 1018: monochrome, 19-ppm (page-per-minute) printer designed for the small office. HP claims it has the world's smallest footprint for a laser printer. Pricing starts at $129. Available May 1.

HP LaserJet 5200: a monochrome, 35ppm, wide-format printer series (includes models that offer network and duplex capabilities); includes HP's Instant-On Technology that's designed to eliminate warm-up time. Pricing starts at $1,439. Available May 1.

HP LaserJet 9040: a monochrome, 40-ppm printer series designed for high-volume, high-performance printing (includes models that offer network and duplex, processing and finishing capabilities); 11-inch by 17-inch format. Pricing starts at $2,299. Available now.

All-in-One Printing
HP LaserJet 3050: a 19-ppm monochrome printer, color scanner, copier and fax; prints up to19 ppm. Price: $299. Available now.

HP LaserJet 3052 and 3055: a 19-ppm, flat-glass and sheet-fed monochrome printer, color scanner and copier. The 3055 model also includes fax capability. Designed for small work teams with moderate print needs. Priced at $399 and $499, respectively. Available now.

HP LaserJet 3390: a 22-ppm high-performance, all-in-one monochrome printer, color scanner, copier and fax. Price: $699. Available now.

Color Laser Printing
HP Color LaserJet 1600: an entry-level, 8 ppm, color and monochrome printer; designed for single use, no networking capability. Price: $299. Available May 1.

HP Color LaserJet 2605dn: 10 ppm color, 12 ppm monochrome printer. HP claims this is the world's first single-function color laser with photo memory card slots. Price starts at $499. Available June 1.

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com

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