I just got one of these and aside from the excellent, 25th Anniversary edition of the manual, I'm very unimpressed. (I haven't seen or used the later version of the Platinum so I don't know how (or if) it differs from this one.)

The calculator looks nice and the undo feature is welcome but:

- The color scheme, although better than recent version, is nowhere near as readable as the original 12C.

- The keys have a good 'click' but are made from low density plastic and feel really cheap.

- All the edges on the keys and calculator are sharp, feel terrible and some will snag clothing.

- The display contrast while adjustable is only so-so but what's much worse is the horrible shadow that the display crystals make on the substrate.

The case looks nice too but is not very functional:

- It's hard to put the calculator in it.

- It doubles the overall thickness of the calculator.

- It has strong magnetic latches that will almost certainly wreak havoc with credit cards.

- It doesn't fully protect the calculator, the corners and edges stick out!!!

This is likely to be "just a collectible" for me, I greatly prefer the original 12C.

Sorry for the low-quality pictures, but here they are:

Hi. A question:

What's the upper right blue curved arrow for?

Thanks for the photos. I think I'll buy one when available in Italy.
Anyone knowing when?

-- Antonio

Edited: 26 May 2006, 2:59 a.m.

Hello Antonio:

I think the curved arrow can be the undo function.

In Spain this calculator will be available next month, on the 2nd week, more or less.

Best regards

Iñigo

I. Rodriguez wrote:

Quote:

---

I think the curved arrow can be the undo function.

---

Thanks, but the backward (left pointing) blue arrow under the minus key, then?

-- Antonio

Of course: it's the backspace (stupid me!).
How does the "Undo" work? can it go back to a full set of operations?
Or is it designed for input purposes? I cannot find anything in the HP site.

-- Antonio

It has strong magnetic latches that will almost certainly wreak havoc with credit cards.

Or not, according to MythBusters:

Quote:

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In fact, it took over 1,000 gauss to erase a credit card - a gauss measurement that high could not be found in any household magnets, money clips, or wallets. So don't worry everyone, your credit cards are safe.

---

- Thomas

Undo does not go back through an operation. If you just pressed 5 SQRT then undo won't help you.

Undo works with clearing functions. if you just pressed CLX, then the undo symbol shows up in the display. You can recover a number you just cleared.

I guess it's the first time a HP calculator has such a function.
Am I wrong?

-- Antonio

Edited: 26 May 2006, 9:20 a.m.

Well, many (all?) of the graphing models have this. I know the 28 series had an undo, but it was a true undo which would recover the entire stack and reverse an operation. That was back in the late 1980s.

The backspace is good for deleting a single wrongly-entered digit, but given its placement at the right side of the keyboard and the blue shift being toward the left-side AND that the backspace is a shifted key, I have found I don't use the backspace very often. Too much "finger" travel fo rme.

Gene

Gene wrote:

Quote:

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Too much "finger" travel for me.

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For me too!

-- Antonio

Katie

Thank you for the nice pictures and the description. This gives us a good overview of a new item to buy (or not?)

Best regars
Peter

While I don't have a easy way to measure the strength of magnets in the HP case, they're moderately strong in that they have to work through two layers of leather. And if you believe these types of ads http://www.magnetictherapy.co.uk/scp/THERAPY_MAGNETS/1000_Gauss_Spot_Magnets.html such magnets appear to be common. I need to do some experimenting myself and see if the myth-busters are right!

Edited: 27 May 2006, 12:51 a.m. after one or more responses were posted

Here's a close up shot of the 12cp 25th edition still in the package. Any scratches are on the clear plastic of the box it arrived in. I have not opened it.

This one is going to a friend in NZ.

I actually (through a website mistake) have another on the way that I will ship to someone overseas who wants it. My cost to have it delivered to me plus the cost to ship to you. No profit. I didn't intend to order it. HP's website died in the transaction and lo and behold, here it comes. Let me know.

Gene

Quote:

---

Well, many (all?) of the graphing models have this. I know the 28
series had an undo, but it was a true undo which would recover the
entire stack and reverse an operation. That was back in the late
1980s.

---

At least all RPL models have an undo operation, although with the
48SX/S, it's called (more accurately, in my opinion) last stack.
By default ENTER (including implicit ENTER) saves a copy of the
stack in a local environment, much like a local variable. The last
stack saves can be disabled (to reduce memory usage, typically) or
enabled. An undo operation replaces the current stack with the
last saved stack.

Undo does not completely restore the calculator to a previous
state though. For example, it doesn't restore the state of the
flags, various system settings, variables which may have been
stored, purged, or replaced, or the command line (or other editing
environments). It restores only the last saved stack.

The RPL models also (by default) save the last arguments and the
last four command lines, and these too can be disabled or enabled.

Regards,
James

Considering that rare earth magnets are becoming more and more common I find it hard to believe that no common household goods exceed 1000 Gauss.

It would be nice if the Mythbusters had scientific credentials better than a degree in Russian and a High School diploma.

Quote:

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It would be nice if the Mythbusters had scientific credentials better than a degree in Russian and a High School diploma.

---

The quality and reproducibility of the experiment are what matters, not the level of education of those who designed and conducted it!


I thought placing a credit card between two aquarium-cleaner magnets and then running it through a card reader and *still* not getting any read errors was pretty interesting, anyway. :-)

- Thomas

Hi Gene, all;

the UNDO feature in the newer HP12C calculators (Prestige included) seems to be related only to the clearing features, indeed. According to the Prestige manual (originally in Portuguese):

Quote:

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"Every time the user presses [CLx], [g][<-], [f]CLEAR[REG], [f][CLEAR][SIGMA] or [f]CLEAR[FIN] to clear data, the [undo symbol] status annunciator is shown in the display. This means that the user may press [g][undo symbol] to undo the last operation (i.e., recover data)."

---

I tried with both a Prestige and a newer HP12C Platinum (not a 25th. aniversary eddition; have none to test... yet?) and it worked fine. I mean, if I press [f]CLEAR[REG] and [g][undo symbol], data in registers remain. If I press [f]CLEAR[REG] and any other key, the undo annunciator is cleared and data is actually cleared. It seems to me that the undo annunciator means "clearing operation pending", and pressing any other key (but [g][undo symbol]) performs it.

Cheers.

Luiz (Brazil)

Edited: 28 May 2006, 2:32 a.m.

>The quality and reproducibility of the experiment are what matters,
>not the level of education of those who designed and conducted it!

Agreed. But in my opinion their experimental design and methods are often lacking... which I attribute to scientific knowledge deficiencies. The show's entertainment value tends to outweigh its' scientific legitimacy.

Just my opinion. Feel free to reject my reality and substitute your own ;-)

Hello John,

if the unit is still available,

I'd like to buy it.

Please drop me a mail at:

magic48ges[at]gmx.de

(Replace the obvious by @)

Regards

Raymond Del Tondo

Hello John,

I would like to order one unit as well, if possible.

Please drop me a mail at:
museum[at]hp-collection.org

Yours,
Matthias