(FORTUNE Small Business) – Office XP (preview) Price $250 (upgrade); www.microsoft.com

The new Office won't be out until late May, but we got a sneak peek to give you a heads-up about the most relevant new features as you consider whether to upgrade. The most prominent new stuff tries to bring to the surface many of the hidden features already in the product. Task Panes (similar to Internet Explorer's history bar) provide links to frequently accessed files and apps. Another new twist, called Smart Tags, is the next generation of autocomplete, suggesting actions based on what you've just done. But neither is as smart as we had hoped.

Improved collaboration is another focus. A new Website, SharePoint, wants to be your team's virtual office, but it doesn't look much better than sites like Intranets.com. More interesting was the "send for review" feature that lets users create a document as a team, tracking multiple sets of revisions. There's much more, and we'll have a full review in July. A final note: Office XP won't support Windows 95. Can you say "double upgrade"? --Brian L. Clark

HP LaserJet 4100n Price: $1,579; hp.com

Remember Steven Bochco's 1990 police musical TV show, Cop Rock? High concept, mixed results, just like HP's new Web-smart printer. The idea of an embedded Web server that lets you access printer controls over the Net is appealing. And the 4100n's ability to e-mail you when it needs maintenance is a convenience that many office managers might really like. But how about being able to print to it from a remote PC via the Net? Not yet. In fact, outside of a few notification options and some remote troubleshooting, most of the Web-based controls felt unnecessary. No one needs to know every time the paper tray is opened. As a printer, the 4100n had a blistering 25- pages-per-minute print rate, but it made a distractingly loud humming noise during printing. Grease meets Hill Street Blues wasn't a hit. A Web printer might be. Just not yet. --EYAL RABINOVITCH