I first bought the HP-15C before my freshman year at Iowa State. I used it through my undergrad EE program and after school continued using it for years. The landscape layout, heft, and feel of the keys were all incredible.<p>Years later I tried a TI-89 and really couldn't stand it, even though it had all the cool graphing foo and symbolic algebra which is really useful. So I distinguish between the usefulness of the features of the TI-89 and the qualitative feel of the HP-15C.<p>Even later still I tried the HP-33 for a basic RPN calculator that I could lug around in my backpack and not worry about losing or damaging it. It's really light and certainly doesn't have the feel that the 15C does. The keys have a 'toy' feel to them that I don't like.<p>All that to say that I probably will try this new 15C, but I'm skeptical. It probably won't have the same heft in the hand, nor the feel of the keyboard as the original. But hey HP, please surprise me!
I still have my HP-41CX, which in my opinion is the greatest calculator that HP or anyone else this side of Calculator Jesus has ever made. Still works perfectly. I doubt it will ever be surpassed.<p>I think it's great that the 15C is being re-issued. It's another reminder (sorely needed these days) that there was a time when HP made truly great products.<p>Smart move by HP.
I like the sneaky footnote:<p><i>Addition loop test, completed in HP labs. Up to 100X faster than original HP 15c.</i><p>"For at least one pair of numbers, we can perform a single addition about[1] 100 times faster than we could in 1982."<p>Did any of the original owners complain about its addition speed? I'd have thought the matrix operations and numerical integration would be the slow bits. I wonder if you could get this speedup just by better fab technology and upping the clock rate, or if you'd need to go as far as bumping the process size down a notch or cramming stuff closer together.<p>Edit: it's a limited edition, so presumably they're not doing anything too complicated. I wonder how much a new set of masks cost these days.<p>[1] if it was more, we'd boast with that number!
I've used and programmed an HP-15C, but it was a novelty even then, 22 years ago. I haven't used my HP-48GX since college. This reimagined 15C might be interesting if you could access the ARM CPU or there are extended features. I don't see any references to I/O though.<p>For practical interactive calculation I get a lot of use out of calc <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/calc/" rel="nofollow">http://sourceforge.net/projects/calc/</a>. It's algebraic, but I find that less error prone than RPN.
Science left the limitations of the pocket calculator behind, ages ago. Any field of analytic research, be it science, engineering, finance, etc. the values you manipulate on a day to day basis are no longer scalars, but tend to be matrices, often very large ones.<p>TI got this part right, sort of: the TI calculators while clumsy for data entry have 2D screens and make apparent the various interpretations of mathematical objects, as equations, matrices, and graphs.
Am I the only one that would prefer a HP 42s? $300 on ebay? are you kidding me? I know, I've got "RPN Calculator" on my android phone, but it's just not the same.
With a one-line segmented lcd display, I wouldn't care that it's flashable even if it ran linux. There's no way I'd get one.<p>The 12c I can somewhat understand. It has a niche; it's accepted on a bunch of financial-related exams where other more advanced calculators are banned, and many financial geeks can operate it instinctively. Common Finance operations accessible with one or two keystrokes, combined with RPN, make it invaluable even though modern calculators are far more expandable and capable than the 12c.<p>However, I see no place for the 15c. You could buy a HP 50g on amazon for the cost ($100) of the limited edition 15c.<p>In testing situations where the 50g is not allowed, there will be no need for numerical integration or matrix manipulation, so a cheap calculator like a HP 300s or TI 34 would be perfectly adequate at a small fraction of the cost.
The HP-15C is the only calculator that ever became an extension of my mind. It is that good. After 20 years the keys became a little unreliable, so the brain connection snapped; I don't know if I could wire it back in again.
I wonder how the durability and longevity of this arm emulated version will compare to the original. Also, does it use the same buttons cells as the old one?
Well this is cool. It really seems pointless, though. There's already the 35s, and the 48gII is a much better calculator at a lower price, and anybody with a phone can get a far superior graphing calculator. It doesn't even come with wifi.
Now HP just need to realize the amazing 'value' created by their flop with the Touchpad and release it again. At $99! Take a $4-$600 million dollar hit and create a HUGE base of WebOS users that they can profit off in the next few years!
<p><pre><code> What's in the box?
HP 15c Scientific Calculator
• Calculator
• Batteries
• Quick start guide
• Manual on CD
• Protective sleeve
</code></pre>
<i>Manual on CD</i><p>Cheap bastards.