I recently won a brand new 49g on Ebay. I know it's not as old school as the 48 series, but I like the thing alot, don't know all that much about it currently. I've been offered a 48G for $50. Any thought on why I'd want to own one?
I do have a question about my 49G too. I plugged in the batteries that came with it, and used it for several months (here and there). Well, the original Energizers went dead, and all I had on hand were these cheap Panasonics (the kind you get at the dollar store, 4/$1). When I turn it on, it seems to take it's time, whereas before, it would "snap" on, and often display some garbage for a fraction of a second. Are/were either of my batteries doing the unit harm? These were sitting around for a while, so possibly they're not at full capacity (I could try a fresh dollar store batch I guess lol). Should I use a particlar type of battery? Does anyone bother with rechargeables in their calc?

The 48G has a lot less memory and No real CAS in comparision. But it has real Hp quality buttons and is actually just as fast (or even somewhat faster, I am talking about the 48G w/32K RAM only). It also has a built in equation Library, which I have on several occasions made good use of.

If I had to choose between a 49G and a 48G for a calculator to use for general use, I would, without hesitation, grab the Hp48G.

Which do I have in a desk drawer at work? Well, I have a 49G, because I have quite a few special programs and these programs would overfill/overload the RAM on a 48G. And I have another Hp to actually crunch numbers on. The Rubber keyboard on the Hp49G just doesn't compare to a real Hp keyboard.

Now if you really meant that you have the NEW Hp49G+, you probably would not appreciate an Hp48G nearly as much (unless you have a 49G+ that has a bad keyboard/ older ROM). The Hp48G is Slooooow in comparision, and Hp has re-included the eq library in the 49G+.

My quick comments:

48G well built, nice layout, somewhat slow
49G Still well built but offered with Rubber??? keyboard, still slow
49G+ Not so well built, FAST!, returned to plastic keyboard, but went cheap on the keyboard construction (the heart and soul of every calculator). But it is also less than one half the cost of the original Hp48 series, so you get what you pay for.

I'd say snag the 48G if you want a quality calculator. $50 at Walmart will buy you a new Hp33s. Which is the better buy?

Of course if you are an engineering student, you should buy an Hp33s to use for a future EIT or PE exam.