Best Keyboard of the HP 28/48/49/50 Series



#4

What do you think is the best keyboard of the RPL graphing series?

I would vote for the 48G and the 48S keyboards. (I still like the 48S colors the best). The math and program menus do not need a shift key to access, the menus are nicely kept nicely organized on the keyboard, the polar/rectangular and radian/degree mode toggles are present, and the secondary functions of the arrow keys are printed.


#5

I agree. The 48S have the best keyboard layout. It is more intuitive and clearer than the keyboard of the 48G. Furthermore i hate the choose menus on 48G. The soft menus ("screen keys" or "menu keys") in 48S are great and effective.

#6

28S wins for me. Especially for programming.


#7

Second the vote. Simple. Uncluttered, Easily navigation around grouped keys. Runner up would be the 48SX--although each key has triplicate functionality, nomenclature is uncluttered, legibly spaced and the keyboard matrix is not overwhelming (unlike the early Commodore S61 Statistician. Now, that's a cluttered keyboard!

Edited: 12 July 2012, 1:03 p.m.

#8

I'd rule out 50G on basis of ENTER key location alone!

Edited: 11 July 2012, 1:21 p.m.


#9

The location of the 50G ENTER key, placed in proper ergonomic position in the same column as the /x-+ keys, is superior to and more logical than any of the idiotic post-Spice placements of the ENTER key on the left side and the /x-+ keys on the right side. No matter which side of the keyboard these five keys are located, they should always be in the same column. For the 50G, they are, though not as well arranged as they should be.

The 50G has the best keyboard of anything HP made after the HP-41 and Voyager era, with its great high contrast color scheme. The color schemes of the 48Sx (and Pioneers) of sickly orange on feces brown, and that of the 48Gx of low contrast low definition light blue and purple on greenish gray are doubtless both the poorest keyboards in the history of HP. There must have been some "artistic types" in HP's industrial design team for whom ergonomics and usability were alien and ignored concepts.


Edited: 12 July 2012, 1:26 a.m.


#10

I've been using HP calculators for 32 years now and the 50G is the first I have used with the ENTER key on the bottom right. After 32 years, that takes a little getting used too. I didn't mention colors or placement of any other keys. The ENTER key is in the wrong spot.


#11

Definitively!

#12

I also like very much the 50G keyboard. it s the best for me even if it is not so 'sweet' than my old 48. I vote 50G wich is far better for me.

The color pattern is very well done with a high contrast ( quite perfect even in low light condition)

The keyboard disposition is in my point of view very good. The shift keys are very well exploited (WIN / GRAPH...). I would have prefered an unshifted PREV key, and perhaps a shift key for MODE and APPS (this area of the keyboard may be better i think, with the idea that it s better to unshift the more frequent command (but i agree it depends on the usage !))

One important point for me (48 49 50) is that in alpha mode you can enter letters _and_ numbers. i regret that it is no more the case on the new 39GII

Edited: 12 July 2012, 8:39 a.m.

#13

I'd rule it out on the basis of stiff keys, and an abysmal layout.


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  HP Prime... NOT meant to replace HP48,49,50 ? Chris Pem10 21 5,832 11-18-2013, 03:30 PM
Last Post: Chris Smith
  HP-10C Series Family Photo Max Stone 5 2,257 10-24-2013, 10:31 PM
Last Post: Eddie W. Shore
  ANN: A MacOSX Kermit program for HP48/49/50 calculators Paul Onions 2 1,654 09-08-2013, 04:55 AM
Last Post: Paul Onions
  HP-50 on Raspberry Pi? The HP-67 come true? Matti Övermark 10 3,428 07-30-2013, 09:40 PM
Last Post: Matti Övermark
  Nibble reverse (HP-48,49,50g) Gerson W. Barbosa 44 12,585 07-28-2013, 10:10 PM
Last Post: Gerson W. Barbosa
  (OT) Pandigital expression (HP-48,49,50g) Gerson W. Barbosa 19 5,711 07-19-2013, 05:59 AM
Last Post: Gilles Carpentier
  Questions about building a RAM card for hp 48 Waon Shinyoe (China) 0 1,145 07-09-2013, 09:53 PM
Last Post: Waon Shinyoe (China)
  Precision DC-50 Mic 3 1,580 05-26-2013, 01:27 PM
Last Post: DavidM
  HP 50g Takes hours to compute a convergent series Matthew Richards 10 3,214 05-14-2013, 03:30 PM
Last Post: Thomas Klemm
  HP Calc Series Mic 3 1,631 03-21-2013, 01:34 AM
Last Post: Mic

Forum Jump: