On 10/18/2011 7:24 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 10/18/2011 10:08 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
I do have a 50G, and I find it to be pretty nice.
The build quality is
good (not as good as the good old days) and the key-click is *almost*
right.
When did the build quality start to drop? I have a 35S, which is
great but the build quality isn't even close to real HP. It also
chews through batteries like there's no tomorrow. (2x CR2032) The
next most recent one I have is a 48SX, which is very nicely built, so
it seems to me the decline happened somewhere in between.
-Dave
That's a good question. My dad teaches Math at a local community
college and the Math department at said college always seemed to get
ahold of at least one example of most of the graphing calculators that
came out in the late 80s through the mid 90s, from the Casio FX-7000G
on. As a result I got to play with most of them :). The build quality
of the HP-48SX was great, as was the GX (used that one through college
and it still works, though alas the LCD has started to "leak"). I
recall the 38G (1995) as being well built physically but a poorly
executed idea software-wise (it was HP trying to take on TI in the high
school-level education department and failing miserably). The HP 49G
(1999) was a real dog and I don't think things have been the same since,
though the HP50 is a marked improvement (and the 35S is pretty nice in
comparison as well.)
- Josh