HP Forum Archive 14

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NEW calculators quality. Message #1 Posted by Will on 15 Nov 2004, 12:25 p.m. Dear friends....I´ve had received a lot of very BAD feedback about the manufacturing quality of the new HP´s models.I am interesting in a "new age" HP but would be useful to know about the opinions about the new ones 33s and 49g+. All the models i own are olds ones( 2 voyagers, 1 pioneer, 48g and my trusty but broken 28s, its battery door design is the worst even sold by hp). I usually works using THE PC power using my 11c as supporting calculator to get 2x2 or get my account balance and these things but soon maybe i will need a calculator for an university task (aka. exams) so this is a good excuse to get a new one for my collection. i´ve not decided yet which one..i think would be more likely a 33s (cheaper and good enough in theory) but i don´t discard the 49g+ option yet. The small decimal point and the cheap construction, bad ergomics and other concerns in the first makes a lot of doubts.

Re: NEW calculators quality. Message #2 Posted by Ron Ross on 15 Nov 2004, 2:48 p.m., in response to message #1 by Will Today's Hp's are not of the same construction of the past. That said however, they are good calculator's, just not what we are accustomed to. But neither are they anywhere near the cost of the older calculators either (even factoring in inflation!!). The Hp33s is a direct upgrade of the Hp32sii and only really offers extra memory, a two line display and an algebraic mode. The Hp49G+ is a big step up in performance and features over its predecessor the Hp48g series. It is faster, faster, faster and has lots more usable memory than the Hp48G. And did I mention, it is faster? However, the 49G+ doesn't have as nice of keyboard entry as the Hp48G (I still use a 48G at work). However as a school calculator where I check my input, the 49G+ does return answers a lot faster. I wouldn't consider it for repetitive number crunching as it Does miss keystrokes every so often (not often, but just enough that I will never trust it). And I believe it to be a latent hardware issue (in other words, I don't think it will be solved by any real software patch). I also believe that if you never owned another Hp to compare against, you might develop a keyboarding techniqe to overcome this flaw. Old Hp's worked that if you felt the keyclick you had registered a key entry. Hp's new design is such that you must bottom out the key past the familiar keyclick we are used to. Therefore, keyclick does not mean key entry. That is my point. Depending upon the class which I would choose. The Hp49G+ does offer some really great features and I don't regret having it. But at work, I use the 48G (I have a PC with a math package that I don't use all that much either). For school I use my 49G+ for the homework, but I could certainly use less. If you aren't taking an engineering or scientific course, I would also suggest an older Hp17Bii or Hp19Bii. The 17Bii is very portable and has a great solver. The Hp19Bii has everything the 17Bii has plus trig and units conversions.

Re: NEW calculators quality. Message #3 Posted by Raymond Del Tondo on 15 Nov 2004, 4:22 p.m., in response to message #2 by Ron Ross 49g+: In other words, the 49g+ also misses keys faster :-)))

Re: NEW calculators quality. Message #4 Posted by Eddie Shore on 15 Nov 2004, 9:41 p.m., in response to message #1 by Will The HP49G+ wins in: * Screen Quality * Arrangement of the keyboard, especially if you do not the Chevron design * Definable keys, and symbolic math Both keyboards are good, and are reasonable in price. If you do go for the hp49G+, get one with at least the series number CNA436xxxxx. The later batches have keyboards that are hundreds of times better than the 2003 batches. Check out Joe Horn's site.

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