50g

mike wrote:
> Any first impressions...

I've got one.  I do like it better than the 33S.  It's a nice 
"middle-level" programmable.  I do like the physical packaging (not the 
retail packaging, I mean the shape and buttons and such).  The screen is 
the same as the later 33S screen, plus what appears to be a piece of 
protective plastic that adds a bit of glare, and which some people have 
removed[1], but which doesn't actually bother me.  I don't like the 
incomplete nature of the complex-number arithmetic.  It turns out to 
have some flaws in the implementation of its programming model, and some 
smallish arithmetic bugs (in the trig functions for values very near 
zero), and you should peruse the forums at hpmuseum.org for more detail.

All in all, it's a good successor to the 11C, the 32SII and 33S, and 
other mid-level calcs.  It's not a good successor to the 15C, 41C and 
42S, any 48 or 49/50, or other high-end calcs.  It's not trying to be. 
One engineer here at work, who designs PC boards, did replace the 49G+ 
with it, and he's happy; he had replaced a broken 32SII with the 49G+, 
but it was more calc than he needed.  As a good calc to keep handy, it's 
excellent -- light, feels good, good buttons, much clearer labeling than 
the 33C.  The case is also fine.  When the bugs in the software are 
fixed I will be able to recommend it with no reservations, but even now, 
I can recommend it, as long as you don't need to do anything too far 
outside its functions -- no large matrices, no heavyweight units 
support, no CAS, etc.  A good calculator for engineers, less good for 
math courses.

[1] It's held together with screws -- you can actually take it apart, 
and put it back together, without damaging it -- this is a definite plus 
in my book...


-- 
Dave Boyd
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall
  like a house of cards. Checkmate."  -Capt. Zapp Brannigan, D.O.O.P.