HP Prime - worthy successor to HP-71B ?

[Vincent Weber]

Hi all,

I post this here rather than in the HP Prime forum intentionally, since I would like to gather opinions from people who are "golden era" fans and may not even read the Prime forum.

I resisted buying a Prime for 4 years, thinking that I would not like a color screen CAS calculator - too far off. Then I saw one by chance and was impressed by its sleek design and light weight, and bought one.

To my surprise, after a learning curve, I actually like it a lot now. It is pleasant to use, and still a calculator, not a small computer with windows, documents and trackball like the Nspire. You can put RPN on it, it will neither be the 4 level good old one nor the complex 48 style, but the touch screen makes it easy to move numbers around the stack.
And as far as programming is concerned, it is not the complex, obfuscated, horrible RPL language as Valentin Albillo would say, but a BASIC-like form of Pascal - a bit tidious to deal with BEGIN, END and semicolons again, but the HPPL language is powerful, function-oriented, and fully integrated with the math stuff. Translating programs from the 71B to the Prime is not free, but can be done reasonably.
One complaint even Valentin had about the 71B is the small one-line screen. No such constraint on the Prime, with a large multiline screen.
And of course, even if you don't like the CAS, the math functions (complex numbers, matrices,solve, integrate...) are top notch. Plus a spreadsheet app !

The device has the good old HP feel (albeit a few scratches), the keyboard is good, reminiscent of the HP-15C and HP-71B.

I opened my mind to the 21st century and I regret that it took me so long to realise that it is not that bad. It gives me hope...

Valentin and all... Would you say "Long live the HP Prime ?"

Cheers,

Vincent