Hi all,
I've noticed alot of 32sii's on Ebay lately. Quite a few of the latest silver bezels (NIB) and they always have a BuyItNow price of about $400.
In terms of use-time, the majority of my time was spent on the 32sii until it died this summer. Since, I've been using a few 33s', and currently have the improved radix display with spaced out numbers. I'd say that the only misgiving I can think of is the canted key rows.
I've adjusted well enough to the ENTER key, and find the PLUS pad to be convenient for programming. But seeing so many 32sii's for sale has refired my want for one. The 32sii never caused me any grief, despite its memory deficiency. I even benefitted from that, being forced to get inventive with my programs.
Bullets:
1. Is the silver bezel keyboard reliable ($400-worth of reliability)?
2. I am also quite hesitant to fork over 0.4k for a memory-shy unit.
3. Does anyone here wish to sell a spare?
(I'm still in school, which underscores my hesitation to spend a semester's worth of books on something I can't test for functionality).
Thanks,
ECL
$400 means its about a buck per byte
:P
I have owned both and would not buy the 32SII with silver bezel. It is not because of functionality. In fact, it looks great and works extremely well. The only problem I had was with the lack of contract between the colors chosen for the shifted keys and funtions. It looks nice to hold in your hand, but when you start using it on a day-to-day basis, the lack of contrast and visibility will aggrivate you very quickly and you'll soon want to get rid of it. I now own both the brown 32SII and the 33S and keep the brown 32SII safe at home and use the 33S at work. If I were you, stick with the 33S. After two days I got used to its chevron-shaped keys and love its speed and display (and looks!).
I agree. It surprised me how fast the weird looking keys on the 33S became a non-issue. The small enter key was harder. Not so much for its size but for its location. But that too became natural after a few hours of use.
There is *no* reason to spend US$400 on a 32sii. They just aren't worth that much.
32sii prices have actually come down on bid auctions. Foir a while, they were topping $200. Y oucan now easily get one for between $100 and $130 if you are patient.
But you might as ell switch to the 33s.
I agree with the others-don't get the silver bezel 32sii. A few years past I tried to replace my old 32sii because some keys were loosened, probably the result of being dropped several times, and having stacks of books fall on it. Once it got speared by an aluminum stick file. But it still kept on working. This is one of the earlier units from Singapore with the double shot keys. I ordered a new one from HP, and was horrified over what they had done to the 32sii. The choice of green and "lilac" colors is unexcusable, and the quality was way down, with numerals painted on the keys, and many of the keys also make annoying snapping sounds. I then got myself an older version of the 32sii on ebay for about $150, but this was berfore the 33s came out.
Now that HP has dealt with decimal point and keyboard issues, I consider the 33s a usable machine, and it is now my preimary use calculator. I still don't like the color scheme or the slanted keys-bad styling gimmicks. However, I find the green and purple of the revised 32sii to be more distasteful than the color scheme of the 33s, because the 32sii started out as a well designed and quallity machine, and then was taken downhill by degrading quality and design. At least with the 33s, the trend is one of improvement. I compare the choice of HP to change the color scheme and quality of the 32sii to the choice of Coca-Cola to come up with New Coke-a dumb move that almost nobody liked. At least Coke listened and did away with New Coke. On the other hand, I am grateful that HP still makes a basic RPN calculator, and the 33s is way better than nothing at all or getting ripped off on ebay.