News release

HP Color LaserJet 4550 Family Establishes New Generation of Internet-enabled Color Laser Printers

Successor to the World's Best-selling Color Laser Printer Features Embedded Web Technologies Designed to Improve Ease of Use and Manageability

PALO ALTO, Calif. Nov. 16, 2000

Hewlett-Packard Company today announced the HP Color LaserJet 4550 printer family, featuring Internet-enabled technologies and remote management tools designed to make color printing easier. Priced 20 percent lower than its award-winning predecessor, the HP Color LaserJet 4550 offers exceptional print quality, leading total cost of ownership, and the superior reliability that has become the hallmark of HP laser printers.

"Because of the immense value HP places on the total customer experience, we listen to our customers and develop solutions to make their lives easier -- without compromising the reliability and performance they expect," said Manny Kostas, marketing manager for HP's LaserJet Business Printing Division. "We believe the strong relationships we have developed with our customers have helped us understand their needs, and we will continue to strive to deserve their business."

Since the introduction of the HP Color LaserJet 4500 in October 1998, HP has significantly increased its worldwide market share in color laser printing, becoming well known as best in its class.

The HP Color LaserJet 4550 printer is Internet-enabled for improved ease of use and network manageability. Like several other HP printers launched this fall, this printer also features an embedded web server that supports remote management from a standard web browser. The embedded web server will appeal to network managers in the workgroup environment, allowing them to customize printer alerts and usage statistics, and to monitor and manage their consumables. The HP Color LaserJet 4550 also supports future e-services solutions with an HP ChaiServer Embedded Virtual Machine (EVM). This open architecture programming environment allows users to develop or use future custom Java(TM) applications.

Users also will experience new ease-of-use features in the printer's fast infrared walk-up printing capabilities, allowing them to print without a PC or server connection. In addition, continuous toner-level sensing allows users to detect the precise level of toner for more accurate print-job management. Private printing, quick copy, proof and hold, and stored jobs offer users the security, convenience, and time-saving solutions they seek.

HP ImageREt 2400 provides outstanding print quality, resulting in photo-like images, bold graphics and sharp output, right out of the box. The vivid colors are consistent across the full line of HP Color LaserJet printers, making it easier for customers to bring more of their print jobs in-house.

HP has improved upon the performance of the HP Color LaserJet 4500 by enhancing the new printer with a 233MHz processor; 128MB RAM, upgradeable to 192MB; a 5GB hard disk, allowing the user to print multiple original copies at engine speed; and an HP JetDirect 610N network card, which provides improved network bandwidth. The engine speed is four pages per minute (ppm) for color and 16 ppm for monochrome print jobs.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The HP Color LaserJet 4550 series printers are now available worldwide in four configurations. Estimated U.S. street prices are as follows:¹

• HP Color LaserJet 4550 base $1,999
• HP Color LaserJet 4550 N 2,359
• HP Color LaserJet 4550 DN 3,769
• HP Color LaserJet 4550 HDN 4,289