How New Printer Technology Can Benefit Small Business Owners
Editor’s Note: This post is sponsored by Staples. All the comments and opinions are my own.
Few appreciate how Hewlett Packard has been at the center of the technology revolution in such a variety of ways. (And I’m not even going to detail how, with Carly Fiorina, HP named the first woman as CEO of a major tech firm.)
Did you know, for example, that Steve Wozniak was working at HP when he essentially invented the personal computer? He offered it to HP, but they turned him down. At the time, the company’s testing equipment was the world gold standard and the heart of their business.
Later, HP spun off its measurement products to Agilent, which became Silicon Valley’s biggest initial public offering at the time. It recently made a similar move with another split that put its printer products and enterprise business into separate entities.
For the small business owner, the company’s lineup of printers remains some of the most important “go-to” hardware on the market. And the company just made major headlines when it announced a soon-to-be-released high-volume 3D printer that boasts speeds as much as 10X faster than its competitors.
The new 3D printers – even with their $130,000 starting price tag – may work into the plans of some small business owners. 3D printing gives small businesses the ability to create prototypes, customized products, and smaller production runs that would previously been impossible or prohibitively costly.
However, it’s still the company’s “bread and butter” ink jet and laser printers that are the biggest sellers in small business circles. In fact an HP DeskJet printer just took TrustedReviews’ top honors in the category of “best inkjets and lasers for the home and office.” HP’s Color LaserJet Pro also scored among the top finishers.
It’s probably HP’s lineup of all-in-one printers that land at the top of shopping lists for small business owners – whether they have their own brick-and-mortar locations or have a home office that serves as, well, their company’s home office. I say this from the perspective of having witnessed and lived through the evolution of features and pricing among top quality business printers.
It wasn’t that many years ago that an office had to have a separate (and expensive) printer, fax machine and scanner. Not only did they take up a lot of space, you had three machines that were prone to breakdowns and needed separate materials to keep them going.
The technology and availability have gone a long way since then and this is much to benefit of the consumer, and especially the small business owner. Staples, for example, carries a full line of the HP printers and prices them so they are extremely affordable for even the startup small business.
Recently, Staples added two new HP printer series to their inventory – the HP OfficeJet Pro Series and the HP PageWide Printers. Both of these printers are great assets to any small business.
The HP OfficeJet Pro Series offers affordable, professional color for small businesses that want big performance in a compact design. Not to mention, the printer produces professional quality color documents for up to 50% lower cost per page than laser printers. These models start at $199.99 and are available at Staples online and in-store.
The HP PageWide Printers offer record-breaking speed (0.5 second prints) and professional quality at the lowest cost of ownership in their class, plus exceptional security and energy efficiency. They can even print professional-quality color documents across any width in a single pass. Models start at $499.99 and are available at Staples online.
Visit www.staples.com/hp to learn more. Tote one these HP printers back to your home office and printing, scanning and faxing are only “plug-and-play” away. Of course, with Staples you also get the option of online shopping and having one of these printers delivered right to your doorstep, or order online and pick them up at your local Staples store in one hour. You can also do auto restock so you never run out of ink or paper