HP 33S - IT'S HERE !!

[Wayne Stephens]

My HP 33s has arrived. I like it. I'm NOT going to put my 42s or my 32sii up for sale, but I like it.

I still haven't delved very deeply into it, but I offer the following initial observations/opinions:

1) It's not as ugly as I expected it to be. The gray rubber and brushed metal would be very attractive if I wasn't already so accustomed to the utilitarian look of the classic HPs).

2) I haven't decided if I like the vinyl case which came with it or not. I'm leaning towrds not.

3) It weighs almost exactly the same as my 32sii (i.e. it feels "substantial" in your hand).

4) The slanted keyboard does not bother me. In fact, and this may sound weird, but... I often use my calculators lying flat on a table (the calculator, not me) and use two or more fingers (one or more from each hand) to work the keys (this works especially well once I have mastered the keyboard layout). The "chevron" shape of the keyboard actually seems to function like one of those ergonomic keyboards (bent in the middle and wing shaped) which let you keep your elbows and wrists in a more natural, angled, position while typing. I don't believe HP intentionally designed it this way for this reason, but it works for me.

5) The decimal point IS too small and is hard to see. However, I noticed that it seems to be easier to differentiate it from the surrounding numbers if I adjust the conbtrast so the display is very light. When the contrast is set very dark, the decimal and numerals seem to "bleed together more.

This weekend I will start programming it. I intend to enter a vertical curve (road design) program which I wrote for the 32sii. I'm hoping it will be easy to take advantage of the two line display and show the Station and Elevation together, instead of having the use x<>y to view them. I'll post again to let you know how it works out.

Take care.

Wayne.

[R Lion (Spain)]

Quote:

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I'm NOT going to put my 42s or my 32sii up for sale, but I like it

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but what about a trade 42s-15c? ;-)

Raul L

[Wayne Stephens]

Sorry, no can do.

Take care.

Wayne.

[R Lion (Spain)]

[Thorsten Kril]

I agree with all your impressions. I often write programs laid back in my easy chair and using both thumbs, and even for that the keyboard works fine. The 33s is perfect for me in most regards, except for the two items below (both have been noted in this forum before):

1. Not seeing the decimal point is the biggest hassle for me. I found that it is especially difficult to see between "2" digits, like 2.2. The fact that you cannot disable the comma (",") between thousands makes it worse, because the "." and "," are easily confused unless you look closely. More than once I said to myself "This result cannot possibly be right", until I checked for the point again. The only workaround I came up with is to use SCI mode (then you know where the point is) or FIX (then you know most of the time). But it's not my preferred solution. I will try out you contrast adjustment.

2. Not enough labels to use all the memory. I guess we will have to get creative and program without labels from now on...
I tried for fun, using the Prim number program supplied in the manual. I slimmed it down from 4 labels to two. I think I can get it even to one. So it can be done, but the result of course is an ugly program structure, not worth this machine.

Thorsten