Hey HP -- Ship it with a Printer next time!

As a long-time Hewlett-Packard (NYSE HPQ) employee still with many ties since leaving the active rolls in late 2005, I offer this advice to HP's PC people with the very best of intentions. And I hope it doesn't sound too much like one of those Rodney-Dangerfield-like whines that have been known to be heard, on rare occasions anyway, from people on the "peripherals" side of the biz.

When I blogged about the new "Kitchen Computer" from CES a couple of weeks ago, I was focused on the "integrated photo printer" feature. And at the time, though the press materials touted "home photo kiosk" capabilities, I bemoaned the fact that I could not find a decent picture showing this feature enabled.

Now, this morning's Wall Street Journal carries a review of HP's TouchSmart PC (sorry, link for subscribers only) by Katherine Boehret of The Mossberg Solution. While it's not an overall negative take on the product, it's not exactly a glowing review, either. One suggestion on how to improve future reviews? Ship it with a printer! Katherine comments "...its back side is made to hold a small H-P photo printer, which isn't included." I'm starting to see a pattern here!

The promise of walk-up photo printing in the kitchen is cool, HP. Take advantage of it! (The imaging software, which IS included, gains high marks, btw!)

Comments

Anonymous said…
I am always a little leary of "free" printers. Invariably, they are far more expensive in the long run because of the ink or toner that is required to run them.