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Comment by fifilura | Hacker News Reader

In my opinion, peak calculator was Hp 11c https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp11c.htm

After that nothing significant was added.

Oh! I see now that they started manufacturing 15c again in 2023! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-15C

You’ve obviously never used an HP 48GX. An RPN graphing calculator, that actually had a real usable programming language onboard, and included communications (serial and IR) and expandability, in 1993? And it could function as a TV remote to boot?

I’d still use mine today if I hadn’t accidentally smashed the screen. I bought a 49G+ as a replacement to use in college, but it just… wasn’t as good. Despite theoretically being much more powerful and having more features, it felt like plasticky garbage and was never really a joy to use the same way the 48 was.

Yeah but then you may as well use a computer. The acid test here - do they still sell 48gx?

Technically they dont sell 11c anymore but 15c looks similar enough count as the same to me (someone who has the time to read the fine print may correct me).

They sell the HP prime, which is in many ways an evolution the the 48GX, and for some markets, they still sell the 50G, which is even closer to the 48.

All of them are fantastic. And once on RPN, it's hard to go back.

You couldn’t use a computer on standardized testing. The HP48 series had so much built-in functionality that they arguably shouldn’t have been allowed. For myself, a perennially shitty and unmotivated math student in high school, the SAT was really a test of how quickly I could use my HP48—and I practically aced it. The calculator was just that good.

As mentioned in another reply, HP does still sell a successor to the HP48 series. But regardless, I don’t think determining the quality of a calculator based on the business decisions of a company known for its persistently and astonishingly terrible corporate choices really makes a whole lot of sense…

Had a 48G+, was dog slow. There were 3rd party replacements for the main screen (stack) written that were way faster. But yeah it was a delight to use otherwise esp compared to TI-xx

HP15C is amazing but so is the HP42S[1] and HP35S, with the 42S in particular considered by some people to be the best scientific calculator ever made. I have an HP35S which is great. I also have a swiss micros DM42[2] which is an absolutely fantastic calculator based on the Free42[3] opensource emulator. It's much more powerful than the HP42S while remaining 100% compatible[4]. The only downside is the keys are quite a lot stiffer than the HP42S.

For finance specifically the HP12C is the mac daddy. I have two of them and they're completely fantastic. They took me through an 8 year finance career and even though they are 20 years old now they are both still on their original battery.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-42S

[2] https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42

[3] https://thomasokken.com/free42/

[4] The processor is much much more powerful and it has 1000s of times the memory and essentially unlimited stack space. The instructionset is slightly expanded in a few useful and thoughtful ways. And it has a USB connection so you can upload and download. But original HP42 programs run on it unaltered.

Dismayed to learn that it's now virtually impossible to obtain an RPN calculator of any sort. Swiss Micros make HP clones but for the more casual user their prices are pretty prohibitive when compared to how 'mainstream' calculator prices have tumbled.

When I dont have my hp 28s with me I use realcalc on my android phone.

But yeah it is not the same thing obviously.

RPN rules for sure.

Isn’t the HP35 around for about €50?

EDIT: OMFG no and look at the prices

The 15C is a collector's edition. It's not going to be in production for long. I bought one and they people who made it (Moravia) did a great job.

No, the 28s was the peak. Showing the stack is a huge ui win.

Good point, I have owned both and still use my 28s and look dearly upon it when I bring it up (and my younger colleagues smile at me like - well you know the type of smile)

The details may be discussed (indefinetely). There may even be earlier versions than 11c that has the similar feature set but the longevity of the model and the build quality of the model says it all i think.

Time to resurrect the hp-01a https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp01.htm

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