Introducing myself... and a question on a weird 48G Message #1 Posted by Cristian Arezzini on 5 Mar 2011, 7:04 a.m.
Hello all,
This is my first post after many years of lurking here... I just registered yesterday (it's been quite hard for me to find an email provider that was accepted by the system!).
I live in Italy, and of course I have a passion for HP calculators (and some other brands too, but mostly HP). My first HP was a 48G that I bought new in college... It's still working, even though it's REALLY battered - it has seen a LOT of use, and I had to open it many years ago, before I even knew what Internet was, so I had no instructions, and pretty much destroyed the face plate.
Anyway, in the years I built up a small collection (nothing comparable to the pro's!) but a few weeks ago, thieves broke into my office and opened the cabinet where I kept most of my collection (the wife doesn't understand the need to keep "old junk" at home...) so I lost almost everything. They only left a 41CV, maybe because it looked too old to be of value? And they left a 48gii, which is the one I loved (and used) the least. There were also a 12C and my original 48G safe at home.
Anyway, I've started buying some calcs to replace the ones I used most... mainly of the 48 series. And I bought a really nice 48G. It came from England, but I think it's originally from Germany because the manual is in German. It's made in Indonesia, and I was disappointed to find that it has painted keys (I thought all 48's had molded keys). And the font in the logo on the top right of the face plate, is a little different from all the other 48's I've seen. Anyway, it works, great, and it has the "blue on green" display that I love for sentimental reasons.
Now the weird thing... On the box (it came fully boxed) there is a very "official-looking" 512KB sticker; and indeed, the calculator has 512KB of RAM, one in each port from 0 to 3.
The calculator shows absolutely no sign of opening; the face plate is like new, and there are no cuts where the rivets are.
I don't think it was an "after-sale" mod, because in that case there would be no sticker on the box. I think it was sold already upgraded. But I've never heard of a 48G being sold that way, and my searches yelded no result. Does anybody know anything about this? Who upgraded it, and where (and for how long) was this setup sold?
Thank you in advance,
Cristian
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