HP50g Graphing Calculator

[dibbler67]

Who else has got one?
 
I got this bad boy halfway through high school, and let me tell you, it's amazing. After you go RPN, you never go back. Then there's the POWER of the thing. This may not seem useful, but how many other calculators can give you the factorial of 10,000? None that I know of.
 
It's a lot of fun to play around with this thing. It has extensive programming capabilities. If you're into math or calculators and you have money to burn, check it out!
 
I saw the two year old calculator thread, but I wanted to see how many of you guys have 50g's or any other HP calculators.

 

[buffalowings]

I'm in..as long as it gets me a 1900 on the sat :/

 

[dibbler67]

If you really learn the math (and learning the 50g helped me do that) you shouldn't have any trouble.
I dunno about the english parts though...

 

[appophylite]

Got into HP with a 49g, and upgraded about 6 years back to a 50g. I agree, once you learn RPN, it's hard to go back (though immensely entertaining to watch the faces of friends who unknowingly borrow you calculator, and cannot understand why 'It won't calculate' simple equations )
 

 

[Chromako]

There's the old joke:
 
 

If Hewlett-Packard made toasters... They would market the Reverse Polish Toaster, which takes in toast and gives you regular bread.

 
I have the 50g. 'tis great. My complaint is just that the interface isn't exactly... user friendly to newbies. 
 
RPN FTW

 

[Jaywalk3r]

After you go RPN, you never go back.

I have an HP 49g+ (the precursor to the 50g, IIRC). I really wanted to like it and RPN. I tried, but it was not to be. I don't use it at all. When I need a CAS calculator, I stick with my trusty TI-89 (original). When I write mathematical expressions, I use algebraic notation. It just makes more sense to me to enter them into the calculator that way, too.

 

[FieldEffect]

I was considering picking up a 50G. I still use an old 48G, which I love, but I'm sure it's slow by modern standards. I've been using RPN for too many years that I can hardly stand to use a non-RPN calculator.

 

[slwiser]

I just picked up one about a month ago.  Been using my 48SX but the buttons started to miss a beat every once in a while and it was time.
 
Anyone remember the 28s or used it?

 

[FieldEffect]

Quote:

I just picked up one about a month ago.  Been using my 48SX but the buttons started to miss a beat every once in a while and it was time.
 
Anyone remember the 28s or used it?

How do the keys of the 50 feel compared to your 48? And how about the overall build quality?
 
I don't believe I ever had a 28s, but I use to have a 32sII.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

How do the keys of the 50 feel compared to your 48? And how about the overall build quality?
 
I don't believe I ever had a 28s, but I use to have a 32sII.

 

The keys on the 50 do not feel a nice as the old 48sx did but the 50 keys today work much better than my 48sx do now.  The 50 build quality feels like light plastic while the 48sx feels solid as a rock.  That does not mean it is not a solid product, it is just the feeling of the machine in my hands.  My 49 simply does not feel right nor has the keys to let me work with it effectively.   I do miss hitting some the keys on the 50 more than I ever did on the 48sx though but not as badly as on the 49.
 
I really enjoyed the clam-shell design of the 18 and 28 series.  I have been a sucker for the RPN language since day one.  Love the capacity of doing "object oriented programming" on a handheld device.

 

[slwiser]

 
Somehow instead of doing an edit I double posted and subsequently removed the info.

 

[appophylite]

Quote:

 

The keys on the 50 do not feel a nice as the old 48sx did but the 50 keys today work much better than my 48sx do now.  The 50 build quality feels like light plastic while the 48sx feels solid as a rock.  That does not mean it is not a solid product, it is just the feeling of the machine in my hands.  My 49 simply does not feel right nor has the keys to let me work with it effectively.   I do miss hitting some the keys on the 50 more than I ever did on the 48sx though but not as badly as on the 49.

The Keys on the 49 were atrocious. They were put together in some sort of array so that if you pressed on too often or hard enough, it broke and the rest of the keys in that array became loose and jiggled around also. Very happy that they fixed that issue with the 50. However, the 48 really does have a good set of keys. Reminds me of the keys on my Dad's old HP from the 80s. He keeps buying new calculators in an effort to replace it, but always comes back to it
 

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Reminds me of the keys on my Dad's old HP from the 80s. He keeps buying new calculators in an effort to replace it, but always comes back to it
 

How young are you?....I started using HPs in the early 80s later than a lot of people around me.  Just got tired of having other brands that would not work.  Never have looked back.  61YO and still working...
 

 

[appophylite]

I'm 26, but I've been using HP calculators myself for the last 10 years since I got out of High School. My High School graphing Calculator was a budget Casio Grapher, and when it broke, I grabbed the new HP 49 that dad bought and was disappointed with and never looked back. But I remember plunking around with dad's old calculator (An HP-65 or and HP-29c, probably the latter) back when I was 3-4 and remember learning how to use a calculator with that one as my first. That calculator is still running to date and is my dad's favorite, much the same way I think the HP50 is the calculator I'm going to keep for a while now.

 

[FieldEffect]

Quote:

 

The keys on the 50 do not feel a nice as the old 48sx did but the 50 keys today work much better than my 48sx do now.  The 50 build quality feels like light plastic while the 48sx feels solid as a rock.  That does not mean it is not a solid product, it is just the feeling of the machine in my hands.  My 49 simply does not feel right nor has the keys to let me work with it effectively.   I do miss hitting some the keys on the 50 more than I ever did on the 48sx though but not as badly as on the 49.

I'd like to get a 50 just for the heck of it, but I don't really have any need for it. All I use my 48 for now is arithmetic.