If yes, then HP wants to offer you one time opportunity to relive life with your HP 12c Financial Calculator.
Hewlett-Packard is marking the 30th anniversary of its HP 12c Financial Calculator today by launching a limited-edition version aimed at nostalgic fans.
But before revealing price and other details, below are some facts about the HP 12c calculator, to make you more nostalgic:
1) HP 12c calculator has been one of its best-selling products ever for HP and it has been in continuous production for the last three decades.
2) At the time of its launch in 1981, it was thought that the HP 12c calculator would have a two-year life.
3) It came out at a time when it could address most of the functions that financial experts needed.
4) HP calls this machine the “gold standard of business calculation,” and the Museum of HP Calculators calls it the “calculator that wouldn’t die.”
5) In 1981 the HP 12c costed $150; the device is HP’s best-selling and longest-selling calculator.
6) HP 12c came out the same year of the launch of the space shuttle Columbia and the same year as the IBM personal computer.
7) HP 12c has a landscape layout, computations that are more accurate than federal standards publications, and a keypad that lets users enter complex formulas.
8) HP 12c calculator is one of only two calculators permitted for use during financial professional certification exams.
9) HP built chip factory to manufacture the two major chips for the 12c. The factory used the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing process, which now dominates the industry. One chip was nicknamed R2D2, after the Star Wars droid, as an abbreviation for RAM ROM Display Drive. And it had a microprocessor built with 6-micron circuitry. Now, chips can be fabricated with 32-nanometer circuits, many times smaller. HP also used just-in-time inventory for the calculator, enabling it build 750,000 to 1 million units for the launch of the device.
10) As nothing this world can be flawless. The 12c does have one flaw as well. It has to do with date-related calculations, where it tells you what day of the month and year it will be when you ask it to calculate the date 200 days from now. You can only calculate until Nov. 16 in the year 4096. After that, you get an “out of range” error message.
More videos and history Here.
The new model will sell for $79.99. The calculator features Reverse Polish Notation, which improves efficiency and thereby speeds the calculation of loan payments and interest rates, time value of money, standard deviation, percent, cash flows, and other equations.
The limited edition calculator has a unique production number laser-etched on the back and is sold in an elegant gift box. HP is also reintroducing its HP 15c Scientific Calculator, first launched in 1982. That calculator was discontinued in 1989 and it lived on as a mobile app. The 15c has the same design, but the new one has 100 times faster processing speed. The 15c will sell for $99.99. --------
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