Best hp rpn calculator 2020.
1 – HP Prime Graphing Calculator
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Fantastic calculator that got me through my engineering undergrad. One VERY important thing to note, though, that they don’t tell you until it goes horribly wrong. DO NOT update the firmware over USB 3. It must be USB 2. If you attempt to update the firmware through a USB 3 port it will brick the calculator. I didn’t know this and they don’t tell you this in the upgrade process or on their update web site. Mine bricked during update and I called them and went through a very lengthy diagnosis process to which the device wouldn’t respond to any of. Then the tech asked if I upgraded over USB 2 and I had to say no and he said that was why it had bricked. It was out of warranty by a couple months so I had to buy another. It’s an absolutely great calculator, except for that one issue I know of .
My review will be contextual to being a HP 50G user. The views will reflect my opinions and do not constitute absolute objectivity. The HP Prime is impressive from a hardware and packaging perspective. It has alot going for it like speed, a touch screen interface, and good industrial design. What it doesn’t have is built in 3D graphing or a decent units handling capability. Sure, it has units but its clumsy working with non-standard compound units such as J/s in RPN. Entering the 1/s is a pain where as on the HP 50G its simple. Its ok in textbook mode. Also the two environments (CAS and Home) in the Prime seem like an afterthought or compromise.After owning it for a week, I’m not sure it will replace the 50G on my desk. I use the 50G frequently for unit calculations as inputs for FEA runs. The Prime requires extra manipulation to invert units and compound the units. Also, I perform a wide range of general calculations that I prefer to do by calculator instead of a computer. The 50G just seems to work better for me (Full RPN). Granted, I have more experience with the 50G so it may just be a experience thing. That is why I will update this review as time goes by to reflect additional exposure to the Prime.Prime Pros1) Speed – This thing is fast to plot functions!2) Back lit color screen – Not a ‘must have’ but it does aid in viewing the screen over a grayscale display.3) Pinch to zoom touch screen. You get used to this since smartphones have set the paradigm.4) I like the hard sliding cover.5) Powerful programming language. It’s not RPL but its good in its own right.6) Good industrial design.Prime Cons1) Having separate CAS and Home environments. You don’t need it with the TI calculators and you didn’t need it with prior HP calculators so why do we have it now.2) Unit management and conversion is clumsy particularly in RPN.3) 3D graphing – sure you can add a program to cover this but who releases a high end CAS calculator in 2013 without this functionality. I rarely would need this but it crazy that HP omitted this feature since it should be easy for them to do. If the Prime is a replacement for the 50G, it should have the features the 50G has and not less.4) The learning curve should be less considering this is targeted for the educational market. I have a TI-89 Titanium and anyone could just pick it up and make use of it without a manual. The Prime doesn’t give the user that kind of experience. Nor is it familiar like the 28S, 48SX, 48GX, or 50G. It’s like the worst of both worlds. I know the previous HP calculator architecture was stretched to its limit but the new one doesn’t seem optimized for either TI or HP users. It’s new and doesn’t offer a clear user interface advantage over any of the units that preceeded it besides speed.5) The variable management is a huge let down. If you want to use variable names in the built in equation solvers that aren’t A-Z, they must exist in advance of running the solvers. The 50G and TI-89 can create the variables on the fly. Who in the world at HP thought this was a good idea? Seems dumb to me. Another silly decision was having lower case variables in the CAS environment and upper case variables in the Home environment. In other calculators, such as the 50G or TI-89 a variable is a variable; upper and lower case. It just seems rather arbitrary.6) The orange over gray printing is hard to see under certain lightly. Someone should study human factors at HP and try again.7) Glossy screen picks up glares and finger prints easily.8) The equation solver app is limited to ten equations.9) HP equation library is not available for the Prime.Yes, the Prime is a beast as far as computational power but it just seems like it’s being held down by less than insightful thinking in software design. It needs some improvement.I will update this review as I become more familiar with the Prime.—– Update 04/24/15 —-No change in star rating because the fundamental issues are the same but I’m getting used to the Prime. I made a commitment to trying it out as my work calculator. Had to take the 50G home to resist the urge to use it instead. Still not in love with it. .
I’m going to write this review based on my experience with the HP 48S/SX and from a working engineer’s perspective. I have been using the HP48 graphing calculator since 1992 and I admit, the learning curve was steep at first but RPN has become second nature to me. Nowadays, I use the HP48 for quick calculations and unit conversions. A lot of the advanced graphing features are somewhat useless to me as I have access to computers and I am not restricted to use them as a student might be.I agree with a lot of the reviewers here (who are engineers) about their opinions on the new HP Prime. Many are experienced engineers who have “cut their teeth” on prior generations of HP graphing calculators. For me, it was the HP48S/SX, the gold standard.What drew me to the HP Prime, was the larger color screen, faster processor and more memory (in fact 1000 times more). It was an opportunity to upgrade and retire my old and reliable HP48. I had mistakenly assumed that much of the old functionality found in the HP48 would remain the same, I was wrong.The pros:1. Large and bright color LCD (320×240 vs 131×64)2. Replaceable Li-on battery.3. RPN4. Faster processor (400MHz vs 2MHz)5. More RAM (32MB vs 32kB)The cons:1. Non-user definable softkeys. On my “ancient” HP48S, the softkeys could be assigned functions or commands that used the stack for input and returned an output back to the stack. On my “modern” Prime, they just sit there completely useless. Instead the UI designer decided to showcase the glorious touch screen. (see #2)2. Needlessly convoluted menus and submenus. Every single command is buried under a menu. It almost looks as if the interface designer wanted to show off the fabulous touch screen and all the pop-up windows it can display. So what better way than to bury commands as deep as possible and make the user fish for every single one of them.3. Unit conversions are a nightmare to perform. As an American engineer, we have adopted English units for everything, whereas the rest of the world uses SI. Try converting 10 or more specifications given in SI to English units (or vice-versa) with your HP Prime and you’ll see what I mean. (example 3 psi = ? Pa)a) on the HP Prime, it takes no less than 17 button presses and screen taps to do each and every one. (see #2)b) on the HP48, it takes 7 for the initial run, each conversion thereafter takes 4 steps. (
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2 – HP 42S RPN Scientific Calculator
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I have a small collection (~20) of calculators, most of them being 80/90s era HP handhelds.I prefer older HP calculators due to RPN and superior build quality.Although not my favorite EDC for banging out quick calculations (HP 32sii for that), it is by far the most powerful and trustworthy pocket calculator that I have ever owned and coupled with ease of use (due to well thought-out UI), excellent build quality (but not quite as good as the HP Voyager series), and great size/form factor, makes it technically my favorite pocket scientific calculator. There is also an excellent digital version of this calculator available as a smartphone App (Free42, developed by Thomas Okken).I reach for this calculator whenever I actually need to use the advanced features such as complex number calculations or a custom program,My favorite aspects of the HP 42s:- Compact size (truly shirt pocketable, second only to the HP Voyager line such as HP12c and 15c).- Due to the number of functions and capability available, much is accessible via a menu system, for a clean UI look and operation.- The quality (feel and reliability) of the button presses (again, second only to the HP Voyager line).- The complex number support is thorough, takes up a single stack register, and is very nicely implemented.- The 2-line display. I prefer it to single line for the added context when programming or caculating, and of course navigating menus.- The programmability: * Plenty of program storage capacity (~7kB) * User-assigned Alpha-character program labels and variables and numbered registers makes this a very nice programmable. * Simple but powerful RPN keystroke programming methodAlthough there are certain design features that do not compare favorably to my other HP calculators:- The dot-matrix screen resolution and contrast is sub-par.- Not the best version of the HP Solver.- Does not display fractions.Unfortunately there is no way to export programs/data/memory, although, if I could only keep one calculator, this would certainly be the one (that is until the arrival of the Swiss Micros DM42), and therefore I rate it 5 stars. .
Works great, very timely on shipment .
I often tell my students (I teach EE): “this is the best calculator made by man”. And it’s true. Once you start using the 42s, you will never go back to anything else. Since these are discontinued, I have quite a few of them as “backups”, purchased at exorbitantly high eBay prices. but they are well worth the money (although my wife would disagree ). Couple that with an HP thermal printer. and everyone’s jaws will be dropping as you are tracing your calculations out onto receipt paper.Most of my students are mystified at how quickly I can “fly” through complex calculations on my “little Casio-looking thing”. By the time I am done with my calculations (which include complex numbers, matrices, all to 5 sig-figs), most of my students are only halfway done entering the expressions into their algebraic calculator monstrosities. It’s too bad that postfix never really caught on, as it is a far more superior entry method. especially when engineering calculations are concerned.What a shame that HP killed off this legendary calculator. I would still buy it if it was lacking programming abilities and an IR port (which is what HP is aiming for, I assume. the FE and student market). I’ve sent numerous letters to the CEO over the past few years, but. alas. this calculator is not meant to be (any more). .
The best calculator I’ve ever owned, bar none. Still works perfectly. Even though I’ve had mine for 25 years, and even though they’re now selling for $300-350, I’m not parting with it.Too bad HP as a company has deteriorated so disastrously since then. But this calculator comes from the time when HP still made good products. .
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Best hp rpn calculator 2020.
Best hp rpn calculator 2020.