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.

Updated ROM from the 49G

[Cochonou]

From the previous articles about the 49G+, it looks like the calculator is to run an updated 49G ROM (with the ARM9 will emulating the Saturn CPU from the 49G).

Now, I wonder if HP is going to make the updated ROM and its subsequent revisions available for 49G owners... that would indeed be very kind of them, but they might also want to increase their sales figures by making 49G zealots switch to the 49G+.

Re:Good news for overprivileged children everywher

[jasonbowen]

I know of several schools that don't allow calculators during exams in calc and physics.

Re:Who is it aimed at?

[proj_2501]

you cannot take SAT using a calculator with a QWERTY keyboard

Re:my question

[mblase]

who needs that much in a calculator?

Anybody who's gone beyond trigonometry in school into pre-calc and calculus. Anybody who uses calculus in the college classes on a regular basis.

You may not personally have any use for a handheld device that can integrate and differentiate symbolically, but those who do find these things indispensable.

The Best HP Calculator Site

[wsloand]

For the interested, the site that I've always found the best info on HP calculators and software for them is http://www.hpcalc.org/ [hpcalc.org].

Re:Save Your Money

[The boojum]

Possibly so, but to my mind the main advantage of my HP is the reverse polish notation with the stack. RPN requires demonstrably fewer keystrokes to enter and you don't have to worry about remembering how the calculator implements order of operations. Plus I can sanity check an expression as I go along, seeing the intermediate results on the stack. Also, the stack obviates the need most of the time for storing partial results. Standard algebraic notation on a calculator becomes very uncomfortable after a short time with RPN.

So no, it may be more expensive, but I think even its basic features short of storing answers justify the extra expense.

HP still dropping calc line

[nedron]

To my knowledge, there ahas been no change to HPs decision to drop their line of calculators. These models were already in the pipeline and were mentioned in HPs "we're out of here" announcement.

So, while it's good news, for these three models, I'm still pretty sure it's the end of the line for HP.

Re:What they don't say

[Detritus]

My guess is that it was cheaper to write a Saturn emulator for a modern commodity processor than it would have been to design a modern version of the Saturn, which is an ancient design on an ancient process. If you look at the spec sheet [samsung.com] for the ARM variant (S3C2410X01 RISC Microprocessor) that HP is using, you will see that it has a ton of integrated goodies in addition to the ARM core. That's a lot of logic that HP doesn't have to design and test.

Re:my question

[Anonymous Coward]

You are assuming the parent is talking about using it for math courses. But what about engineers? The problems in the higher level courses are not designed to be done without using a calculator and once you get high enough the features of something like this become very useful (unless you want to whip out a symbolic math program on your laptop whenever you need to do home work).

Budding Engineers

[goodhell]

Students in the engineering field might want to reconsider purchasing a beauty like this. According to the NCEES [ncees.org] website. You cannot use this for the F.E.E. See here [ncees.org] for their faq.

Mainly it is non-IR, and non-text editing. They pretty much want you to go back to using slide-rules for taking their exam. This new policy goes into effect in April 2004.

It really pisses me off, because now I have to go buy an older calculator so I can take their f#@#$ing exam to show that I can be an engineer. Just 'cause a few people go in there and try to steal the questions. Stupid!!

Re:HP still dropping calc line - NOT

[Pinball Wizard]

http://www.hp.com/calculators/news/index.html [hp.com]

A choice quote:
"The bottom line is that HP calculators are here to stay and they are going to be better than ever, giving our customers more than ever."

But hey, don't let a silly little thing like facts get in your way of proclaiming the end of the line for HP calculators.

Re:How Robust are they and what about the buttons?

[darrylo]

You need to follow the comp.sys.hp48 newsgroup [comp.sys.hp48]. I don't think you'll like the hp49g+ keyboard.

Re:Who is it aimed at?

[Guppy06]

"you cannot take SAT using a calculator with a QWERTY keyboard"

Which is a pretty damned stupid policy, IMO. The TI-89 and the TI-92+ are functionally identical. They are both way too powerful for there to be any good reason to allow the use of in undergrad entrance exams (and even some graduate entrance exams). Because of this stupid "no qwerty" rule, the TI-89 has slid underneath the radar and we now have kids taking the SATs with machines that know more math than they themselves do.

If the people that run these tests want to be taken seriously, they're going to have to get up off their asses and become familiar with the technology out there. Simply banning the use of calculators based on form factor makes their tests worth less than the paper they're written on.

(Not that this is anything new, mind you. Most lower-level undergrad classes say "no graphing calculators." But there are "normal" scientific calculators out there to be had that have such features as a numeric algebraic solver...)