What calculator do you use ?

[PA4TIM]

I can choose between a sharp PC-1211 and a 1500. During my study my uncle boreed me his Sharp and I think it was a 1211. But hat was around 1983 or 1984 so I'm not sure.
The man I'm repairing the 9100 for has both and I can get one. I think the 1500 is more practical because it has more possibilitys and uses regular AA batterys ( they are both with the printer)

( i'm afraid calculators are like multimeters, they multiply. Allready have 3 HPs and 2 casio's and a bunch of HP apps. Think I would like a HP-65 42 and 48 but then its enough, ( something tells me this oes the wrong way.  )

[ampdoctor]

This one is mine since Yesterday. Made in 1971 week 43 according to the serialnumber. A HP -35 the mother of all scientific pocket multimeters

thats exactly what you need!  99% of everything you'll do can be done with that calculator, and none of the really useful functions are buried beneath three layers of shift and mode keys. When it comes right down to it, everything else is just window dressing.  All the stuff you need is just right there at your fingertips.  Brilliant functional product design. The only thing I might add in would be a few brackets for nested calculations, degree radian and gradient modes, and engineering mode just because occasionally I like to be lazy.

[ErikTheNorwegian]

What do you guys think about the new OLED color graphing calcs by makers like TI (nSpire) and Casio (Prizm)?

I think they look rather gimmicky, but I've never actually used one. I'd assume battery life must be atrocious. I really like my current calculator (Sharp EL-516X) because it has dual power (solar + battery). Never have to change the batteries in my calculator again.

I wonder if there's any use for e-ink in calculators? Might be interesting.

Anyway, any thoughts on those smartphones with calculator software running on top calculators?

I got both a Ti nspire touch (B/W) and the CAS colour version..

and they are truly great, i would say the most advanced and best calculator in the world today! They are truly enormously powerfull..
You can have 4 windows (yes like on the PC) at the same time and it multitasks  simultaiusly  between them.

 TI claims this new color version will last 2 weeks between charges if you use them on daily bases.

Just watch the video.. i just cant start to say how great it is. The CAS version is just a mini PC.. and with them you get a software  version of the calculator for your PC.





And its Vernier function lab equipment connection, with sensors,  (yes even voltmeter) is just great for data collection. but they "cost a little".

DOOM and gameboy games also run on them !!

So my old 30 years CASIO FX-720P is resting now.. but that is also a truley great calculator (Basic programin language).

[FenderBender]

But as far as usability? I mean sure it's powerful, but do you think yo make any sacrifices using one of those?

[IanB]

The only thing I might add in would be a few brackets for nested calculations...

Brackets wouldn't be needed as it uses RPN--there is a stack for nested calculations built in.

[ampdoctor]

Wow, I wasn't aware that those originals were RPN calculators.  Thought it was just the 35s models.  I stand corrected.

[rr100]

A couple months ago "RealCalc Plus" from Android Market was on sale for something like 25 cents (free version is more than good enough but the offer was too good to pass). I showed it to a fried, he installs it on a (big screen) Galaxy Note and then shows it to his wife. Wife thinks it's a calculator and start "hey, when you bought that?"

[PA4TIM]

I have a 42S app on my Nokia lumia and i had it on my desk, a collega thought it was a new calculator 

The 35 is very usable but to say it has it all and th rest is window dressing ? I use the solve mode from my 15C and 35S very much. Things like last x too. Also the complex mode.

Just found out about the HP50G, looks like a more user friendly 48.

Nobody experience with the sharp pc-1500 or  1211 ?

[ErikTheNorwegian]

But as far as usability? I mean sure it's powerful, but do you think yo make any sacrifices using one of those?

Oh no, no sacrifices.. at all. It may have a steep learning curve, but its a "mini windows OS". Drop down menus.So C is cut, V is paste etc.. It got "My documents", it even boots the OS if it have been out of battery!
 I have made a lot of ready "documents" that i need in my daily work. (I do electro acoustics's,lot of calculus,  ordinary electronic work. Plus computer service and are part time studying for the moment quantum mechanics theory)
Its just going to the folder and get the ready formulas/projects up and key in the figures.
What is neat is that i can grab a line in a diagram/curve and drag it and it updates everything in the spreadsheet. Don't need to carry a laptop computer to do the calculations as before. (I`m in a wheelchair most of the day.) 

But it may not be the "cup of whisky" for everyone, but for my needs its just a wet dream come true. 

But i also got a Casio fx-5800P. A fx-115MS and the bets of them the "Personal computer" CASIO FX-720P that has served me for over 30 years now ..

[JuiceKing]

I have a 42S app on my Nokia lumia and i had it on my desk, a collega thought it was a new calculator 

The 35 is very usable but to say it has it all and th rest is window dressing ? I use the solve mode from my 15C and 35S very much. Things like last x too. Also the complex mode.

Just found out about the HP50G, looks like a more user friendly 48.

Nobody experience with the sharp pc-1500 or  1211 ?

The HP 45 introduces last x and feels more "modern" than the 35. But, only the 35 dedicates a key to pi. No shift! That's a real usability feature!

- Ken

[jeroen74]

I use a HP28S, which I got by trading a HP97 that I bought at a flea market for €3.50 

[saturation]

I have PA4TIM, through grad school.  I use all the Sharp series, until the 1262.  The 1211 I used the Radio Shack version.

Nobody experience with the sharp pc-1500 or  1211 ?

[quarks]

I just saw this topic and like to add my experience.

When I was at university I started with HP28, than followed by HP28s, 48SX and finally the great 48GX. When my 48SX broke (this year) I looked for a replacement and thought about getting either HP50g or the TI-nspire and unfortunately bought the HP50g. Like robrenz said, after using HP48, the HP50g is a big disappointment. If I had to decide again I would get the TI.

Its a shame that my almost 20 year old HP48GX (which I still use every day in my office and emulated on all of my PCs) seems still to be the best (at least HP) calculator ever. 

[PA4TIM]

I have a 48GX app. It was a frightning complex thing at first, could not even found pi, but i found a HP tutorial manual and I begin to get it and like it more and more. Not so much for normal work, the 15C of 35/35S is more easy for this but the solve function is super because I can give the variables meaningfull names and see them in the screen, highlight the unknown one and press solve. Very handy.
I was in doubt about buying a 50G but it is rather expensive and I allready have a bunch of usefull calculators. But I really do need the solve function and on my other HPs it is not very userfriendly ( for me) I have to write down the program labels and variable names somewhere otherwise i never find them back.
So i probably should look for a 48GX.

[robrenz]

So i probably should look for a 48GX.

IMO the best HP ever made and I owned every one since the 25C, they went downhill IMO after the 48GX.  I have the app on my laptop and I use the real one in the shop every day.

[quarks]

Unfortunately the HP48GX is history!

[robrenz]

the solve function is super because I can give the variables meaningfull names and see them in the screen, highlight the unknown one and press solve. Very handy.

Download the manuals and check out the multiple equation solver it is even more awesome. It will link multiple equations with similar variables and solve using whatever equations it needs to get your answer.

[quarks]

just for comparison/fun, real and emulation is almost identical

[firewalker]

Just saw it.

[SLJ]

Even older (~1906-1910)

[chrome]

I searched the thread but it was only mentioned once:

EXCEL

Seriously you can just input the formula once and calculate it for multiple variables without reentering it into your calculator.

Else I use a TI-84+.

[alm]

EXCEL

Seriously you can just input the formula once and calculate it for multiple variables without reentering it into your calculator.

Unless you need complex numbers (possible to a limited degree, but painful with the IM* functions). Or correct statistics. Or an overview of all calculations in a worksheet. There are much better options available for mathematics if you have access to a full-blown PC. Even your average graphing calculator can handle more advanced math.

[jabramo]

Excel is a pain to do simple calculator math since you have to wait for the program to launch and then set up your function, where a calculator is usually at hand. But I do agree that it is a powerful tool especially when working with large data sets. I also agree that there are more advanced math programs and those programs will take even longer to set up. So I think you should use the simplest tool possible for the given problem because it will be most efficient.

[oldrose]

A beaten up HP12C from 1987. Still the King of the Financial Calculators

[peter.mitchell]

casio fx-82tl, I bought it in 1998 for $20!