dgeesaman's Full Review: Hewlett Packard 50g Graphic Calculator
My first graphing calculator was an HP 48G I purchased in high school. It worked nicely, and I sat down learned it's functions thoroughly. 14 years later, I figured it would be nice to get a newer model and retire the 48G for home office use. Having become accustomed to RPN and stack data handling, I figured it was a no-brainer to buy a top-of-the-line HP calculator.
I use it daily for basic calculations. I do not use it for the advanced features, in fact I don't even graph functions on it. About the most advanced feature I use is unit conversions, which I have found to be more time-consuming than the 48G.
Other issues include voracious battery usage (I think I need to replace the 3 AAA cells every couple of months), it's heavier, and it's slower. I also find that the keys require a firmer more deliberate press to register, and there is a longer pause to complete the calculation than the 48G. I would understand the delay if I was asking for a graphic plot, but even basic arithmetic has a noticeable pause. HP also moved the basic operator keys around including the enter key. So that means when I switch from the 48G to the 50 and back, it slows me down.
Perhaps it has redeeming qualities if I really dug into the manual, created custom programs, or used the new advanced features. The algebraic and symbolic calculus features would have been nice (ahem) back when I was studying calculus. But really, the most important things were changed and even after months of allowing time to adapt, I'm convinced they're worse.
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