Christmas Presents

Here is the deal on the 12c
HP Unveils 25th Anniversary Edition 12c Calculator
Tale of HP 12c saving the day on business school final wins contest
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 01, 2006
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HP today introduced a special edition HP 12c Calculator, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the iconic consumer electronics product that has remained virtually unchanged since its debut.
Further celebrating the milestone, HP named the winners of its nationwide competition for real-life success stories involving the HP 12c.
The 25th Anniversary Edition HP 12c Platinum Financial Calculator comes in an elegant black and silver design with an engravable metal plate on the back and an embossed leather pouch. Additional features include the ability to easily switch between Reverse Polish Notation(1) and algebraic mode and undo and backspace buttons. Up to six times faster and with four times more memory than the original, the collectors’ item will only be available until the end of 2006 or while supplies last.
“We’re proud to celebrate this iconic classic that continues to get the job done for everyone from college students to CFOs,” said Fred Valdez, general manager, Calculator Division, Personal Systems Group, HP. “And judging from our contest entries, the HP 12c Calculator has positively impacted the lives of many proud owners over the years. We anticipate this experience to continue well into the future.”
Amazing tales of the HP 12c Calculator
“The Tales of the Amazing HP 12c Calculator Contest” ran from Feb. 10 through May 1 and received hundreds of inspiring, real-life stories regarding the HP 12c. A synopsis of the grand-prize winning story follows:
“The Boon of B-School” – In the midst of his business finance final at Columbia Business School, Vas Rajan suddenly found himself at what he initially thought was a disadvantage when his notebook PC died. All the other students used notebooks to create the sale price valuation of a complex fictional company for the exam. Rajan, however, proceeded to take the test armed simply with his HP 12c calculator, a print-out of the company’s financial statements, a blank exam booklet and a pencil. When grades were published, Rajan, currently a resident of East Brunswick, N.J., was surprised to find that he was only one of eight students to earn an A. After hearing Rajan’s story, the professor made HP 12c calculators mandatory for all students.
More contest stories and a full list of winners is available at www.hp.com/go/12cAnniversary.
Built to last
Instantly recognized for its unique horizontal layout, the HP 12c sold today acts and looks just as it did when first introduced in 1981, with the exception of improved performance due to modern components. Valued for its reliability, proven accuracy(2) and long battery life, the HP 12c has become an industry standard in the business and finance community with more than 15 million units sold to date. It is also the only pure Reverse Polish Notation(1) calculator on the market today.
In 2003, HP introduced the HP 12c Platinum, an enhanced version of the HP 12c financial calculator. The HP 12c Platinum boasts increased memory to allow for more keystroke programming steps and offers more built-in functions, including the option of standard algebraic mode as well as Reverse Polish Notation mode.
Information about HP’s complete line of graphing, scientific and financial calculators, as well as virtual classes, tutorials and step-by-step learning modules for HP’s current range of calculators is available at www.hp.com/calculators.
Availability and pricing
The 25th Anniversary Edition HP 12c Platinum Financial Calculator is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $79(3) online at HP, Amazon.com, WalMart.com, Staples.com, OfficeDepot.com and in-store at Circuit City, Staples, Office Depot, J&R Electronics, Fry’s Electronics and select retailers and bookstores across the United States. A complete list of resellers is available at www.hp.com/calculators/resellers.
More information on the 25th Anniversary Edition HP 12c Platinum Financial Calculator and other HP mobility solutions is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/Mobility2006.
From their press release http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2006/060601a.html
 
I don't think you can get a 15C new. This 12C is a 25th anniversary edition so it looks like a special thing.

BTW my 15C is from 1985 so it is 21 going 22 years old and works great.

When we were in school in 197-mumble some kids actually shelled out the $499 for the HP 45(?) scientific calculator. The rest of us had the up until then lusted-after slide rules. I still have mine.

Don't remember the models and brands anymore. Lance?
 
Wow, Nick. What an incredibly generous thing to do.

Judy
 
Very nice I miss HP calculators I love and still use my HP15C. I have a bunch of others but that 15C was the best. I am going to have to order one of those 12Cs. Is HP going to get back into the calculator business again?

And I still (after 25 or so years) use my HP-41CV. Feed it a new set of N batteries every few years and it keeps on running. Computers are great, but there are times and places that you can't beat a good pocket calculator.

Oh, and I still have (and know how to use - mostly) my Pickett N4-ES double log slide rule. Batteries never die on that one. :D
 
HP Phooey! :)

I married Leslie because she had a TI calculator! True story!

We were in the same calculus class at college, and were the only two in the class to have Texas Instrument calculators. The same model, even! (TI-66, IIRC). She needed help learning how to program it, and it led to true romance. We've been together over 20 years. Now THAT'S the bestest kind of Christmas present!:yes:
 
now thats a romantic story. Leah and I both have TI-89's, but thats not how we met.
 
Is HP going to get back into the calculator business again?

As far as I know HP never stopped selling the 12C. A few folks I work with have 'em. I always thought they were a little quirky with the Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) entry. I also think that with the factory default settings the early models (up to the mid 80's) would round up if a result was a 6 (ie .116 would round to .012 but .115 would result in .11).

I've been fooling around with my new toy and I actually like RPN entry and the rounding appears to work as I would expect (ie .0115 rounds to .12).

Len
 
Had a HP-35 at work in the late 70's and really like the stack and the RPN. Can't believe they cost $400.
 
As far as I know HP never stopped selling the 12C. A few folks I work with have 'em. I always thought they were a little quirky with the Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) entry. I also think that with the factory default settings the early models (up to the mid 80's) would round up if a result was a 6 (ie .116 would round to .012 but .115 would result in .11).

I've been fooling around with my new toy and I actually like RPN entry and the rounding appears to work as I would expect (ie .0115 rounds to .12).

Len

I thought I had read they were exiting the biz. They are saying on their website that the 12C platinum edition is only available until the end of 2006. Mine arrived today.

I like RPN and prefer it to the other system. It makes entry easy if you can visualize the stack it gets to be even easier especially when inputting matrices for simultaneous equations.
 
I thought I had read they were exiting the biz. They are saying on their website that the 12C platinum edition is only available until the end of 2006. Mine arrived today.

I like RPN and prefer it to the other system. It makes entry easy if you can visualize the stack it gets to be even easier especially when inputting matrices for simultaneous equations.

I remember many, many years ago we did a lot of calculator programming for various things at Martin Marietta in Denver. Some used TI calculators and some of us used HP (RPN) calculators. Coding was much more efficient on the HP calculators.
 
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