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I am looking at purchasing a second HP for a backup (read: toy) to my 49G. Now, I am just getting back into school after many years in the working world. I am pursuing a mathmatics degree, witha possible later professional application in Stats or Actuarial.

Anyway, I am looking at possibly a 48G+, as I really like having the large screen available (plus graphing). I choose the 49 as several people told me this was a better choice for pure math, as the 48 series was aimed more at the engineers.

Would the 48 be a good choice, or should I go ahead and get a second 49, as all indicators seem to point to HP getting out of the calculator business.

I had even contemplated a TI86, as it is a non-CAS and would be allowed in lore classrooms, and woudl be "something different".

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

You have a couple different choices.

1st: you could just buy a backup for your 49G, but the a High $ option.

2nd: Buy a 48G series whatever, plain, +, x. The best for you might be a +. This is a great number cruncher and more convienent keystroke layout for certain types of number crunching. Overall very similiar to the 49 but with less horsepower and speed.

Or you could buy a Ti.

Since you mention stats, out of the Box, the Ti-83 is only rivaled by the Hp49G. It lacks many other neccessary features in my opinion, but it is great for stats OUT of the BOX (all of the rest of these calculators have SW available that is as good or better). And the silver ed is the fastest calc for general number crunching there is (runs at 15MHz). But it has several defiencies as well, only really addresses 24K RAM and only has 27 single letter variables.

The Ti-86 is comparable to an Hp48G+. It has decent 2nd party software available and most is Free, even from Ti. Has units conversions which the Ti-83 lacks and 8 letter variable names also. It still is not quite as powerful as an Hp48 but nearly so.

Or lastly either a Ti-89 or Ti-92, both are the same calculator aside from the case, keyboard,display, and a geometry package included with the Ti-92. The 92 looks like a small palmtop type PC. This line has CAS and has a 12MHz Motorola CPU. For most general calculations, it is faster than an Hp49. It is a very good calculator, has Flash ROM just like the 49. It doesn't have as much RAM or ROM available and its file system is not as elaborate. An RPN software emulator is available for it as well.

If you are looking for the cheapest backup, you will now find Hp48G's sell for steep discounts.

If you are looking for just 1 new toy either a discounted extra 49G or a Ti89. If you are looking to spend $100, a Ti-86 isn't all that bad either.

I think you should buy one of each version of the HP48 as well as a second 49 if you find you like it. You never know they may gain in value.

Well... 48's and 49's are both excellent calcs... their capabilities won't be reached by 99% of us...

I'd suggest to buy a second hand 48GX (there are plenty for sale). I'd also suggest to have a more compact calc such as a 32SII. If you're not after your bucks, then the 42S is really THE handiest powerful calculator.