HP Launches New Calculators

lar1 writes "It looks like HP is back in the calculator buisness! In a press release dated 2003 October 20, HP states: 'Within the next several weeks, HP will be launching three additional new calculators: two graphing and one scientific. The two yet-to-be-launched graphing calculators, together with the hp 49g+ and the entry-level hp 9g, will provide a complete range of graphing calculators expected to fulfill the needs and budgets of a broad spectrum of calculator users.' The 49g+ boasts features such as: USB and IrDA connectivity, a 75MHz ARM CPU, 2MB of flash, and an SD card slot. That's a lot of calculator!" We mentioned this calculator-on-growth-hormones earlier.

Comments

And the thought on everyone's mind is....

[JoeLinux]

...Polish Notation Reverse it is?

Features

[mopslik]

The 49g+ boasts features such as: USB and IrDA connectivity, a 75MHz ARM CPU, 2MB of flash, and an SD card slot.

And it adds too!

Broken.

[grub]

Slashdot'd already. Here's the text:

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced the hp 49g+ abacus, the flagship of a
new line of powerful abaci to be launched this fall.

Built for scientists, engineers, mathematicians, surveyors and
students who need portable calculating power, the HP 49g+ abacus
performs all the basic math functions the user knows.
Total workspace includes an unprecedented 80 rows of 10 beads per,
broken into two 40 row columns side by side.

Priced at suggested retail of $99.99, the
abacus also allows for future upgrades via an included
toolkit which allows the user to remove each side bar permitting
access to the bead assembly for easy replacement of worn beads.

"The hp 49g+ is a powerful tool for professional
engineers or college students who prefer the SB (Sliding Bead) entry mode of
calculating ," said Fred Valdez, general manager, abacuss, HP
Personal Systems Group. "We've taken the original hp 49g and made it
streamlined, faster and shellaced to prevent splinters."

my question

[spammyy]

who needs that much in a calculator? i mean sounds ok for an entry level pda, but do you need that much? maybe they're trying to capture the calculator gaming world (who's played hick quest on their Ti83)

Re:Who is it aimed at?

[daksis]

I too have fond memories of being jealous over the guy who had every physics formula ever programmed into his TI or HP super computer. But I'm a little curious, with hand held computers with 400mhz processors becoming the norm, will we soon see the death of the "Super Calculator"?

Ugh.

[Quasar1999]

I refuse to use a device that is physically smaller than its getting started manual.

Re:Ugh.

[default luser]

Then you'll want to avoid both HP and TI.

The instruction book that came with my TI-82 was as thick as the calculator.

The instruction book that came with my TI-89 was twice as thick as the calculator.

In three years, TI will release a calculator with a manual the size of a phone book :)

Clac vs PDA

[magarity]

Just to play devil's advocate: Since PDAs can be had with 75Mhz ARM CPUs and much more memory, what makes this dedicated device better? Given the magins in hardware manufacturing, wouldn't HP be better off writing PDA software to do all of these functions?

Re:Clac vs PDA

[jonniesmokes]

You're right that the processor muscle is better on a PDA - but what a good calculator does is provide you with a great interface to do math. Having all the buttons right in front of you really does matter. Once you learn where the buttons are you can fly through calculations. Hunting through menus on a PDA or pecking a fake keyboard with a mouse on a screen isn't nearly as nice.

HP's 15C, 42S, and 48G are great. The neat thing about this new one is that you could probably power a sophisticated robot. You could even do the inverse kinematics on the fly.

Re:Clac vs PDA

[Foochar]

The interface is what makes the difference. I have an HP48GX as well as a Palm Tungsten E. Someone has written a 48SX/48GX/49G emulator that will on the palm. I have it, and it works great. There's nothing like being able to carry the functionality of my calculator with me wherever I go.

That being said, it is not a part and parcel replacement for my calculator. For intense operations the keypad on the real calculator is worlds better than clicking on the screen. The other thing is that the screen size of my calculator is just a little bit smaller than the screen of my palm, and on the palm screen you have to fit both the keypad and the calculator display.

Re:Clac vs PDA

[FrankDrebin]

wouldn't HP be better off writing PDA software to do all of these functions?

One problem with convergence of the general-purpose PDA and the calculator is that colleges ban the former from final exams because they can be used to store volumes of notes, even entire textbooks. There really is a market for college students, especially in engineering and sciences, for a good calculator without too much memory and fancy graphics, simply to help perform accurate calculations and nothing more.

Re:75MHz ARM CPU

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

WOW! That's faster than my first 486 computer, impressive!

I feel so old... so very very old.....

--

Great devices, for the computer as well

[Zergwyn]

I am very excited by this news. I swear by my 48gx, which has the most useful calculatlor I have ever used. RPN input is very fast, the stack is very useful, and it was really ahead of its time with features. However, it can be a bit pokey at times, making certain features less useful. However, it is also very good on the computer. In mid-2000, HP actually made the laudable move of releasing the HP48 ROM images to the public, so various emulators that work exactly like the real thing can be found for various platforms. For OS X, I would suggest using x48, which is even featured on Apple's website! You can find the original page here. Worth checking out. Also, HP48gx enthusiasts should check out metakernal, which, while it requires you to have an add-on memory card, can make the 48gx a lot more usable. It rewrites a lot of the core functions in assembly, making them far faster, as well as adding new features. It is also free now (minus the cost of the required card, obviously).

Re:This is getting ridiculous...

[Cochonou]

I'd tend to disagree with you, even in the field of complex math teaching.

There is no denying that the CAS of these calculators is very powerful, and often can't be challenged for solving equations or calculating triple integrals. But at best, these kinds of tools can help you working faster and more efficiently, but not do the work for you.
In physics, the calculator (or Maple, Mathematica, Matlab..) can solve your equations saving your time - and some of your nights - but cannot put into equations your problem which is the real deal.
In mathematics, the calculator might be capable of determining the kernels and images of linear applications as an example, but comes short for solving anything that requires to find a proper demonstration. So it won't get you very far.

At last, it could be argued that because of the huge amount of memory modern calculators feature, student are becoming lazy and shove all the formulas into their calcs instead of learning them. Yes, it might be a shame. However, it is sometimes said that the important is not to know all the information by heart, but to know where you will be able to find it.

Re:Who is it aimed at?

[Xerithane]

you cannot take SAT using a calculator with a QWERTY keyboard

One more reason why Dvorak is superior to QWERTY!

Good this is

[JeffTL]

Polish notation reverse very efficient is. Like Latin it feels. Hewlett Packards very good are, but I my TI-83 prefer. When RPN I need GNU dc I use then.