HP15C. They're back...

... And They're gone.

Since I heard HP was going to sell them, i've had my #1 bookmark set to this, checking it every day. Already there are scalpers in action.

Too bad they didn't do the 16C

I miss my HP48GX. The HP50G just doesn't feel the same and is missing 'something'.

You guys know that these are available as Windows programs too, right? They have them for the iPhone, iPod, Palm, DOS, etc, too.

I have an HP-41CX Calculator (among others in my collection, even a 91 and 97), that I use.

There is an equivalent HP-41CV/CX for download on the web (Google V41 calculator or http://www.hp41.org/Emulation.cfm). Looks and works just my real one. The only problem it has that I know of is a problem loading the font. You just okay the message after you have fixed the font once and it runs fine. Use it all of the time.

Some other HP Calculator Emulators (16C, 48, 49, 50) are here:
http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49/pc/emulators/

Edit****
Sorry, they made an emulator for the 15C not the 16C that I mentioned above.


Ross

Oh,

By the way, I also hate the feel of the buttons on the HP49 and HP 50. They fatigue you after using them for extended periods because they are hard to press and mushy.

I still use my HP-41CX most followed by the HP-67 on my bench. Sure hard to keep the batteries in good condition with the older series from the HP-35, and 45 (my first calculator in school), through the next few years (like the Classic Series that had P-MOS device technology). Oh No, I'm in the middle of a test and I forgot to charge another battery pack last night...

Ross

I saw one review of the new 15c. They panned the buttons for not having the same feel as the originals.

Emulators no matter how well done, are still horrible compared to having a hand held.

The 16c is a programmers calculator, Not that there's anything wrong about programmers.

Had one of those, don't know what happened to it, hated the display, un-readable low contrast pos. Oops it was a 48SX.

I never had a problem with the display on the 48GX, until the LCD cracked. It was pretty readable, but I never used it in any of the labs, just at my desk where there is plenty of light (and a personal desk light if I needed more).

I still have my 15C and would never part from it. I use it as my everyday desk calculator. I've also a 12C, 28S, and 48SX. The 48 was my constant companion through engineering school and it really hurt back then to buy it, but I never regretted it. The 15C was my first HP, though, and it has a special place in my heart!

Crazy to have an emotional attachment to a calculator, but it was really a perfect machine. I'm sure you guys on this forum know this, but the keys on these calculators where not painted. The colored markings on the keys are different colors of plastic that were molded in during the key molding process using a very complex bit of tooling. The result is a key that never wears off. The tactile key press on the 12/15 was never duplicated, in my opinion. It was the last gasp of industrial-quality calculators.

Apple is one of the only companies now that achieve that elegance in the design of electronics.

I hope they make more so you can get one!

Jim

I really dug my HP 28S, back in the day. I distinctly remember:

- Taking a required-but-boring course called "Engineering Economics", which consisted of moving money forward and backward in time. Many of the assignments required interpolating on tables in the back of the book. I programmed my calculator to just evaluate the functions directly. (We're talking about 1992 here!) Consequently, I went much, much faster than most of the other students in the class, particularly on exams.

- Getting bored one afternoon, feeling in mood for procrastination, and realizing that HP allowed you to push a function on the stack and later evaluate it. Anonymous functions? Lambda! I proceeded to crank through the first chapter of Abelson & Sussman, just to see if it could be done. It could.

- And then there was the time that my calculator battery fizzled and all that crazy functional programming stuff got nuked. I was quite proud of that work. Sigh.

That is really cool! I'm going to put some batteries in the 28 and give that a try! I wish I had known about the wizard book in those days, or even earlier. I probably would have studied CS instead of mechanical engineering.

Ordered one.

I still miss my 48GX. It had the proper HP button feel, and for the time, was very powerful. Ended up doing a lot of programming on it, including a fully functional BBS when a modem was attached to the serial port.

Thanks to my high school loaning an HP48S to everyone in freshman algebra, a ton of people bought various HP calculators for the rest of the years. It was a very RPN friendly place.

I had a 48GX too! That thing was incredible for the time. I had it in high school because my father was always going overboard with gadgets (I get it from him). While everyone in my Calculus class was playing drug wars on their TI-82's, I was playing Lemmings! That thing was extremely powerful, and really the only gadget I ever felt bad about owning because I knew I was not using it to its potential

I had a 71b. I've been known to use it in history class...

Unit arrived #672

Seems same mostly, will compare to original 11c tomorrow. All edges are still unworn. Makes it seem cheaper. They chose to use a pair of CR2032 batteries, which makes for a large battery cover. One that is far to easily removed.

Don't care for the bright backplate.

Edit: suspect originals will outlast new models.