Could someone who has both the old and new HP33s displays (pre- and post-CNx524...) tell me if the shadowing and consequent angle of view issues have been resolved in the newer display?
I played with an old-display 33s at home, mostly handheld, over the weekend. Except for the "amazing disappearing decimal point," liked it. Then I took it to work today and found that when I have it on my desk next to my PC keyboard, the display gets harder to read. It's like there are two copies of each number slightly "out of register" unless my eyes are close to vertical with respect to the display.
No such problems with the 32S and 32Sii, where a couple of presses of C and plus or minus optimize the display for either handheld or desktop use.
Presbyopia is a separate issue. Ah, the joys of middle age. Perhaps as the 33s is geared towards the engineering exams, so the display is geared towards the eyes of 15-30 year olds who are the calc's target market :-)
I only have a new display 33S, but I can confirm that there appears to be no doubling of the pixels when viewed from different angles. The decimal point is clearly visible to me as well. I like this machine a lot (as I may have mentioned in previous posts!).
Nigel
I've noticed the same shadowing effect on quite a few later models. The Pioneers don't do it, nor do the clamshell models or the 48S/SX. That's the main reason there's a 48SX on my desk rather than a 48G.
Thanks, Nigel and Dave. I think I'll pick up a new-display 33s, as the old display is really annoying.
There's no shadowing on my old 11c, either. I wonder what change in LCD design causes the shadowing, and why it was done. You would think that since a calculator is used both in the hand and on the desk, visibility from typical viewing angles would be a consideration. You would think...
I've noticed that LCDs that exhibit the shadowing behavior also display a more uniform contrast over a wide range of viewing angles. I'm inclined to believe the two phenomena are related, but I don't know enough about LCD design and manufacture to hazard a guess why.
I have both. I use the newer one specifically because of the much improved, superior display on the newer version. There is no real shadowing and he decimal point is quite visible.
(Now, I think the "font", such as it is, "looks nicer" in the old one, but what is that if it's hard to read?)
Thanks, Ed. Looks like the new display is the way to go.
Suppose I order it from Amazon.com. Does anyone know if I am guaranteed to get one with the newer display, or is there a lot of old stock in the supply chain, which might mean what I will get is subject to random chance?