"Big deal", you say? Maybe so. But this thing is 23-24 years old, which is about 2400 in computer years, which puts it close to the technical definition of "antique". (Author's Note: We won't get into what that makes me...)
Still not impressed? The thing still works. With the original batteries.
You read that right. After a year or so of use, every time I turned the thing on I would wonder if this was the day I was going to have to change the batteries. Nearly 25 years later, that day still hasn't come. Now granted, for the past several years I wasn't even sure I still had it. But when I came across it in my junk-cleaning I couldn't resist the temptation to try it out. I suppose I should've been surprised, but I wasn't really.
I'm telling you, this is the Calculator That Time Forgot. This is the Calculator of Dorian Gray. I'm going to have to hold some kind of ceremony when it finally does give up the electronic ghost. But I'm not holding my breath.
2 comments:
I have one too. It's pretty amazing. I use it on a very regular basis. I've replaced the batteries once in the 20ish years I've owned it.
I've been dreaming of an HP 16C (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp16.htm)
Nice, David. :-) I want to say I owned one of those too, but it doesn't seem possible that I would let *that* one fall through the cracks. And I'm pretty sure I would have found it by now.
There's something about the form factor that appeals to me, much more so than the "portrait"-oriented models you see today.
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