HP and Compaq quality over the years

[christopher_wolf]

The batteries last forever on the thing as well.

I know, that is one of the best things about it. I barely even remember the last time I changed its batteries. As opposed to some of the graphing calculators which go through batteries far faster.

[Thinkpaddict]

You guys are just missing out on the best HP calculator ever: the 41C/41CV/41CX. The first flexible LCD calculator display, and the best calculator keyboard HP ever made, before or since. The Model M of the HP world!

I've always heard good things about the 41 series, but I've never gotten to try one, or even see one up close. The only problem with it that I seem to remember is that battery leaking seems to be common (judging by the amount of units in eBay that had leakage damage in the battery compartment).

Also, the 42S is code compatible with the 41 I think.

[Thinkpaddict]

I should have an HP-16C somewhere around here, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Maybe I should try harder now that I've checked the prices on eBay .

There is a very active collectors market for classic HP calculators. One thing to remember also is: Never throw the original box away. Stupid as that sounds, it might mean a few hundred dollars difference in the selling price in the future.

[Thinkpaddict]

41C, I have seen those, always wanted one. I make good due with the 11C as it is one of the best pocket advanced scientific and engineering calculators I have ever come across. Now I see what the HP12 Gold is still popular as a business/financial calculator, it is a powerful system in a slim case.

I'm still using the same 11C that I bought in 1985 and it still works like a champ. Never felt the need to get a new one. The batteries last forever on the thing as well.

It's good that it's working like new. The one simple defect that I have found about HP calculators is that they are not made to be easily serviceable. It can be done, but it is a hassle. You always have to cut plastic pieces, bend metal plates, etc. If they were just like a Thinkpad...

[Thinkpaddict]

The 11C is great; and I do know that the SX was one of the "hot" calculators to have if you were in engineering. Now, however, we are left with whatever the hexk they did to the latest 48G to make it look like a piece of integrated office furniture. The TI89 is probably TI's best overall calculator, and fairs just as well as the 48G did in programming. Still, to this day, I have yet to find a calculator with the kind of tactile feedback and firmness that the HP calculators had. The HP11C is a great advanced, slimline calculator that I can keep in my pocket. Yet, at some point, HP just got rid of their calculator operations up in Corvallis, I think they outsourced most parts of it, and things begin to go downhill from there.

Exactly: outsourcing messed up everything for the HP line of calculators. Obviously, it is likely that outsourcing didn't actually cause all the subsequent problems on its own, and instead outsourcing and the problems where a direct effect of HP's change of company politics, with outsourcing causing more problems down the line. There was a rant (before blogs even existed) from a former HP employee that I read a few years back that went into a lot of detail about the history of that debacle.

The 11C is great, as is the 15C (added functionality such as complex math). The 10C is a much more basic machine, but it is quite rare. The 12C, like you point out in another message, is still sold after more than 20 years. There is a platinum version (silver face plate) and a gold version (not really gold faceplate). The platinum one is the modern version, and while good, the build quality is somewhat inferior to the older version.

[Thinkpaddict]

I also have: 48SX, 48GX, 48G+, 42S, 200LX (two of them, extremely cool DOS minicomputers that run on AA batteries forever), and 95LX.

I've got a 200LX myself and I still use it.

When I first bought my $600 200LX, I bought a $400 PCMCIA Motorola PM1000 radio modem for use with it, for sending email wirelessly. When Ardis (the wireless carrier) no longer supported the DOS OS, they lost me as a customer. It was my brother that originally turned me on to the LX line when he had his 95LX. He since bought (2) 200LX's, but one just recently bit the dust. He is worried what he will do when the other one goes belly up. He relies on his 200LX quite a bit. He'll probably talk me out of mine when his last one is gone - then again, maybe not.

It's good to know that there is another 200LX enthousiast in the forums

These machines are still extremely usable. The simple fact that you can compile and run your own programs in the machine adds an infinite number of possibilities. There are a few compilers that are supposed to work well on it, including the legacy Borland stuff, that Borland has now as free downloads. You can also use the TinyC (maybe that name is wrong) compiler, or compile in a Windows box using Visual C++ 1.52 (last Visual C++ version that allows you to compile 16 bit DOS applications). I even saw some pictures of a guy that had installed Windows 1.0, and even Windows 2.0 on his 200LX.

[tomh009]

I've always heard good things about the 41 series, but I've never gotten to try one, or even see one up close. The only problem with it that I seem to remember is that battery leaking seems to be common (judging by the amount of units in eBay that had leakage damage in the battery compartment).

Also, the 42S is code compatible with the 41 I think.

42S does some pretty impressive things, but I was disappointed by the keyboard -- not up to the 1xC series standards (and I think the 41C and the 3xE/3xC series are a bit better yet).

Hmmm, keyboard snobs on the ThinkPad forums. Who would have guessed that?

[jdhurst]

<snip>
42S does some pretty impressive things, but I was disappointed by the keyboard -- not up to the 1xC series standards (and I think the 41C and the 3xE/3xC series are a bit better yet).

Hmmm, keyboard snobs on the ThinkPad forums. Who would have guessed that?

The keyboard on my 42S is just fine. It is different than the keyboard on my 15C, which is different than the keyboard on my 29C recently located. But all the keyboards work fine. That was always a strength of the original series of HP Calculators.
... JD Hurst

[tomh009]

The keyboard on my 42S is just fine. It is different than the keyboard on my 15C, which is different than the keyboard on my 29C recently located. But all the keyboards work fine. That was always a strength of the original series of HP Calculators.

Yes, the 42S is good. But the older series had a more positive mechanical action on the keys -- kind of like a Model M of the calculator world!