She merged the highly profitable printer division with the struggling personal computer division, another questionable move.

Its printer division has been under pressure for several years, and rivals figured out that cheaper ink packages would dent its market share.

The Tektronix Phaser 740 was a series of color laser printers sold by Tektronix's printer division, now a part of Xerox.

If the printer division is extremely profitable and successful, should they also spin that off, just because they want to be a DB/IT services company?

He is based at the printer division in Boise, Idaho, and has refused all requests to move back to Silicon Valley, which he considers too congested.

The printer division is widely regarded as the company's crown jewel, but how Hewlett can best exploit it is a matter of dispute.

But he acknowledged that if the computing and services businesses were not strengthened by the merger, the printer division could be left struggling to support a heavier burden.

If the computing businesses fail to recover as the deal's proponents predict, the printer division would have to offset heavier losses.

Hewlett-Packard invests $1 billion a year in research and development for its printer division, and that spending is on display at its laboratory in San Diego.

HP has several divisions, with the printer division, that makes laser and inkjet printers, being the largest and most profitable division.