When I was a young student in University in the 70s I remember a rich friend of mine had an HP 67 they he wore prominently on his belt, and was I jealous?
This little beauty was fully programmable, had a card reader on which the user could store programs and data, fully scientific and could fit in the users pocket. An amazing beast. Of course I was far too poor to be able to afford one of these but I could dream.
Later on when I was studying electronics I was working so I could indulge my dreams and so bought a second hand HP 41C.
This was nothing short of extraordinary. Unheard of computing power in your pocket. Similar to the 67 but with a linger battery life, full alpha numeric keyboard and display, full range of peripherals such as card reader, data cartridge, printer just to name a few. This was my pride and joy until it was stolen. However, the insurance company bought me a brand new replacement and I managed to get a discount through a collect lecturer so I got myself the HP 41CX with a card reader, a supply of cards, and a number of modules.
My next calculator was the HP 15C.
This little beauty was capable of complex number calculations and capable of solving a 4×4 complex matrix. Now to those who are not scientists, or electronics engineers that means nothing, but let me assure you that in 1981 that was incredible. I would sit in electronics tutorials with my trusty 15C and churn out my answers in minutes whilst my fellow students were ploughing through the dozens of calculations on their “scientific” calculators only to make a small arithmetic mistake in the first few minutes and have to do it all over again.
Unfortunately that too was stolen, and never replaced.
Well 35 yearsa later and HP are celebrating the event with the release of a brand new calculator, the HP 35S in memory of the origonal HP 35.
This little beauty encapsulates all that is fine about the HP scientific calculators and in real terms it is about a tenth of the price of the original.
The HP has always been the leader in scientific calculators with the finest examples being the HP 67, HP 41C, HP 15C. There have been a few mistakes along the way but their attenting to customer needs has made them the world leader.
See the HP site here, and the HP 35S here.
Thanks to Engadget for the heads up.
The images above are from The Museum of HP Calculators and from Engadget.