HP 12C

Kinja'd!!! "Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01)
05/28/2017 at 16:46 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!5 Kinja'd!!! 19

Got it in late ‘84. Some use for school, some use for calculating mortgages. It was expensive, but I don’t recall the price.

So we’re doing spring cleaning (also getting ready to partially-renovate as we’re buying our apartment), and I find this in a drawer. It still works. My phone does everything it does and more, but I can’t throw it out - and I never use it.

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DISCUSSION (19)


Kinja'd!!! jkm7680 > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 16:51

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Reminds me....

I have a Sharp YO-380 lying around somewhere. Believe it’s from the mid 90's, but I’m not quite sure. Haven’t turned it on in probably a decade though.


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 16:55

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My parents have that exact calculator.


Kinja'd!!! Steve in Manhattan > jkm7680
05/28/2017 at 16:55

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Dig it out - might still work. I swear I haven’t touched that thing in ... 6, 7 years? Needed it once when phone was dead.


Kinja'd!!! My citroen won't start > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:03

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Still have my father’s HP 32s on my desk, along with my grand-father’s old typewriter.


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:03

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Woo, RPN!

HP actually still makes the 12C, although the current version no longer has the custom Nut CPU, it instead has a somewhat modern ARM CPU and emulates the Nut, making it much faster, and using even less battery I believe. (Which is impressive, because the Voyager calculators used very little battery as it was.)

And, there’s a company, SwissMicros , making reproductions of the entire series (except for the 10C, which was just a crippled 11C) also using modern ARM-based CPUs, both in credit card and full-size form factors. They’ve also got a 41CX clone using the same hardware, and they’re working on the DM42, an all-new calculator based on the Free42 HP-42S simulator, but modified to suit the hardware.


Kinja'd!!! razorbeamteam > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:07

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Very nice, I’m a TI Business Analyst man myself, but I appreciate a piece of vintage financial hardware


Kinja'd!!! Nick Has an Exocet > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:11

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I know a guy who had a bunch of vintage calculators. He sold 2 of them and payed for all of grad school.


Kinja'd!!! Alfalfa > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:13

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My dad had (has?) this exact same calculator. Used it on the daily balancing his checkbook, counting calories, and logging miles on his bicycle.

Yes, he likes numbers.


Kinja'd!!! Steve in Manhattan > razorbeamteam
05/28/2017 at 17:28

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TI built lots of the early hardware.


Kinja'd!!! Steve in Manhattan > bhtooefr
05/28/2017 at 17:32

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Wow - nostalgia (at least a bit) gear.


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > Nick Has an Exocet
05/28/2017 at 17:33

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These have a pretty good collector market.


Kinja'd!!! OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:35

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According to the HP Museum(someone really likes hp apparently)it was introduced at $150 and now sells for $83

http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp12c.htm there should be a link to the site here


Kinja'd!!! unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:42

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I also have one too!


Kinja'd!!! marshknute > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 17:46

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My parents both used one in business school back in the 80's, and continue to use them to this day.


Kinja'd!!! Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 18:01

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Those HP’s are legit, one of the first true math and engineering calculators.


Kinja'd!!! notsomethingstructural > Steve in Manhattan
05/28/2017 at 18:41

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If you want to find it a home I’ll take it. I have an RPM HP and use it daily. I’m an engineer in Manhattan.

ETA: I’ll trade you a fractional Casio if that sweetens the deal.


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
05/28/2017 at 18:50

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The 12C is a financial, instead of scientific/engineering, but it’s not just a financial calculator, it’s the financial calculator. Sure, there’s others, but the 12C is the gold standard.

Like, the 12C is to the world of finance as the TI-83+ and 84+ are to high school math. To the point that, IIRC, there’s financial agreements in the multi-billions of dollars, that literally have the keystrokes used on an HP-12C to arrive at the values used in the contract, printed in the contract.


Kinja'd!!! bhtooefr > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
05/28/2017 at 18:52

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The problem with the 12C’s value on the used market is that the new ones really are better - even if they’re not exactly like the original internally, they behave exactly like the original, just faster.

The other models in the series, though, have only appreciated, because with the exception of the 15C LE, there are no new ones from HP, they were discontinued quite a long time ago. And, the 15C LE introduced bugs that weren’t on the original 15C, so the community shuns it.

In any case, HP’s calculator division was part of the good old HP, before it started hawking ink cartridges.


Kinja'd!!! Steve in Manhattan > marshknute
05/28/2017 at 20:13

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Wikipedia says they still make ‘em ...