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Hewlett-Packard has added Internet connectivity and intelligence to its printer offerings with seven new Internet-ready LaserJet printers for workgroups and individuals.

Of the seven HP LaserJet printers announced Tuesday, those designed for individuals will each have "personal Internet connectivity," allowing users to scan and digitally send images over the Internet, says Vyomesh Joshi, the president of HP's imaging and printing systems.

Higher-end systems designed for workgroups will have "both the Internet connectivity aspect and a virtual machine to provide almost any service to the printer as an appliance," Joshi says.

The new HP printers range in price from $199 to $1099. The high-end HP LaserJet 4100 is available now. The mid-tier HP LaserJet 3200, 2200, 1220, and 1200 will be available April 1. The HP JetDirect 175x, for personal or small-business use, will be available May 1, according to HP officials.

Web, Wireless Focus

With the printers, HP is focused on ramping up five options, which are intelligence, Web browsing, wireless printing from PDAs via infrared, digital faxing, and digital scanning/sending, officials say.

The high-end HP LaserJet 4100, for example, incorporates HP Chaiserver Embedded Virtual Machine technology. EVM allows users to execute Java applications to extend the printer's ability to interact with Web-based services, cell phones, and PDAs, officials say.

The mid-tier HP LaserJet 2200, designed for small businesses, integrates color scanner/copier technology, a Web browser to monitor basic printer and network configuration capabilities with an HP Jetdirect network card, and an infrared port for wireless printing from mobile devices.

"The printer will become the platform for the delivery of multiple services, providing rich, personalized, published content," Joshi says.

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