By my calculations (no pun intended), this year is the 30th anniversary of the HP12C. I wrote about the 25th anniversary 5 years ago on my former blog Soapbox back in 2006.
And today, after months of dealing with sticking keys on my HP12C, adorned with dents, scratches, scuffs, missing foot pads, a crud encrusted display after seemingly billions of keystrokes, I finally came to terms that it was time to retire it – which means keeping it in a safe place for posterity.
For a serial gadget person, I am surprised I stuck with a device of any kind for 25 years and only replaced it with an identical but new version.
I have one on my iPhone and one on my MacBook Pro, but its not the same as using old (new) reliable.
Here’s a rehash of my March 30, 2006 post:
This year is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the HP 12c. I have had mine for about 20 years. The logo has been chipped off, two of the foot pads are missing, its scratched, dented and scuffed.
But it still works like a charm. I have purchased more powerful upgrades to the 12c by HP but I was soon back to my baby. Billions of numbers have shown through the dirty display and a whole lot of appraisals got done using this nifty tool. I have become protective of it, getting concerned when it gets swapped accidentally in the office with a newer one thats shiny, clean and unweathered. Its just not the same.
I have only changed my battery once in twenty years. I remember taking a Cap A class offered by the Appraisal Institute and the logic given for learning the J-Factor and K-Factor was that it would come in handy if you were on the witness stand as an expert and your HP 12c battery died. I kid you not.
The HP 12C was the world’s first horizontal financial calculator. Its innovative design and breakthrough Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) entry forever changed the way students and professionals reach their goals. After 25 years, this iconic calculator is still sold under its original name and model number and retains its world-famous horizontal design.
I even use the software equivalent on my laptop. In addition, my Mac OSX operating system allows me thankfully, to change the system calculator to use reverse polish notation (RPN)
Remember: 1 enter 1 +
Should I finally break down and buy a new one?
NO WAY
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