Re: HP 33s Message #5 Posted by Ed Look on 19 June 2004, 1:59 a.m., in response to message #4 by Gaska
I just received my 33s today. I haven't had a chance to truly use it, but I did do some light fooling around with it.
Let me say at the outset, I'll have to concede the complaints that most have made over the last many, many months here and on the hp48 newsgroup.
Because I've seen the images online so much, I have long gotten over the shock of looking at its cosmetic design, though looking at the little print of the shifted keys on their slants does wear at the eyes a little bit.
Aside from that, it feels solid, if light (hey, no problem there!) and the keys appear to be solidly constructed; heck, they feel better than the ones on my 49G+.
But, I was sort of struck by how much it reminded me of my 32SII... until I recalled that Gene Wright and others mentioned that this IS supposed to be a replacement model for the 32S and 32SII. And this much is right with this calculator!
And, as one poster mentioned, there's rubber side "implants" that make it feel rather nice to hold in your hand. The case is that cool and fairly protective 49G+ style one, only scaled down to fit the 33S.
I do recall I sort of had the same light hand wringing when I bought the 32SII, for I compared it to my 34C, which I still love, though it's kind of dotty nowadays. In fact, the 32SII reminds much of the 34C, and the 33S reminds me of the 32SII.
Again, aside from the serious complaints other rabid HP calc fans have made, including that rather small decimal point, I think I most probably will enjoy using this machine.
Here, I think HP did a good job, cosmetics aside, as compared to their algebraic models, by which I mean the 6S, 9S, 9G, 30S models, and most definitely not the 20S, which for an algebraic is rather cool. I had been missing the use of a 32SII, which I am no longer willing to bring to work.
Ah, a light, easily portable, and POWERFUL RPN calculator again!
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