HP 32S 50th Anniversary Edition production numbers

[John R]

(07-11-2016 01:32 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Along the lines of these machines coming in different styles & colors, a recent post elsewhere here pointed out something I never noticed (though I own both). The very late 19BII with the rear door was actually produced in a different color scheme than prior 19BIIs. The case is a darker brown/close to black (similar to the darker case of the late 10B/20S/32SII/17BII) and the keys are also different colors. And the panel on the left above the alpha-keys does not provide the simple help for several key functions, rather it explains how to select the user-language, in several languages, so maybe this late model was only released in a multi-language version.

Here is a picture of the three different HP-19BII styles, arranged in chronological order from left to right:



The calculators have serial numbers beginning with 3248S, ID008, and ID221, respectively. The calculator on the left has the classic side battery door; the other two have the rear battery door.

As Bob pointed out, the final rear-door variant has a significantly different color scheme. However, there are also some subtle differences between the side-door variant (left) and the original rear-door variant (center). Most noticeably, some sections of the upper-left panel are darker in the rear-door variant. The rear-door variant also has matte keys, instead of the glossy keys found in the side-door variant.