HP's 3000 family of business mini computers was one of the most successful and long-lived systems in the industry. However, the original 3000 was a real black sheep (that produced no wool, if you like extended metaphors). The original MPE operating system could not fit into the assigned 128K memory. The product crashed often and could only ever support a fraction of the promised 32 users. The original 3000 was the first unreliable computer produced by HP and was quickly withdrawn from the market.

HP had high hopes for the 300 when it was introduced in 1978. The 300 was positioned as an easy-to-use (and program) system supporting up to 16 users in a business environment. It featured the latest "silicon-on-saphire" technology and a new custom operating system - AMIGO/300. The 300 required very little scheduled maintenance. Unfortunately, the operating environment proved problematical to many customers, and numerous 300s were replaced by 3000 System 33. Despite these difficulties, the 300 lived for almost four years; HP never introduced another AMIGO-based computer.

The 2675A printing terminal was the first in-house product developed by HP's Vancouver Division. The product was based on thermal printing technology. It was marketed as a portable terminal. It cost $3900 including the built-in 300 baud modem at a time when HP was already selling CRT terminals for under $1500. The "Therminal" lasted less than a year and never even made the corporate product catalog.

One of HP's greatest organizational strengths was the decentralization of its product divisions. Divisions had profit and loss responsibility and full control over product design through distribution (using a shared sales force). This organizational structure made it much easier for HP to perpetuate its famous culture as employees felt more like they were working for a small company (their division) rather than a large corporation. A disadvantage of this organizational structure was that it allowed duplicate product development efforts. It was quite common for multiple divisions to be working on similar products at the same time. For example, in the 1980s at least three HP divisions were developing similar inkjet printers (Vancouver, San Diego and Boise). The duplicated efforts were generally not due to poor communication between divisions. They were well aware of what each other were doing. Competition between the divisions drove the duplication. Divisions that were more successful early were more likely to get the biggest chunk of the technology development charter going forward. The 2700 graphics terminal, developed by Data Terminals Division was a marvel of technology – both hardware and software. However, it was introduced about the same time as the 9836C from the Fort Collins Division. The 9836C didn't come with the same software, but it had the same graphics and storage capabilities, and was a full blown computer as well. More importantly, the 9836C could act as a terminal and cost about half the price of the 2700.