Product Description

The new HP 50g Graphing Calculator provides the best in power, flexibility and connectivity for math, science and engineering professionals and college students. It now features a more capable SD card slot, 2.5 MB total memory**, new RS232 and USB connectivity, and a built-in intelligent editor that gives you more capability than ever before.

Product Details

• Color: Black Face
• Brand: Hewlett-Packard
• Model: F2229AA#ABA
• Released on: 2006-07-15
• Platform: Linux
• Format: CD
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .93" h x 3.43" w x 7.24" l,
• CPU: AMD Athlon 1 GHz
• Memory: 128000MB DRAM
• Hard Disk: 1GB
• Processors: 1
• Native resolution: 640x480
• Display size: 669.2913385827

Features

• New display upgrade--the new HP 50g display features a 30% increase in usable space over the HP 49g+
• New powerful SD card slot allows you to format your card right in the calculator and expand memory
• Massive 2.5 MB total memory--512 KB RAM plus 2 MB flash ROM for performing future upgrades**
• New larger equation library and 2300+ built-in functions--ideal for both professionals and students
• The choice of efficient RPN, Textbook or Algebraic data entry

Amazon.com Product Description
The new HP 50g Graphing Calculator provides optimum power, flexibility and connectivity for math, science, and engineering professionals, as well as college students. Featuring a more capable SD card slot, 2.5 MB total memory (512 KB, 2 MB Flash ROM), RS232 and USB connectivity, and a built-in intelligent editor,

A large, high-contrast display clearly shows every important part of a formula, calculation, or graph.

The 50g boasts expansive memory, thanks to an SD card slot. View larger.

this system gives you more capabilities than ever before. Compact, portable, and simple to operate, the 50g features a 30 percent increase in usable space over the HP 49g, and handles complex computations with ease.

Powerful, Innovative Design For Fast, Accurate Computation
The 50g features easy-to-use, powerful tools that students and professionals can rely on for years of performance, including built-in graphing functions, constants, and applications. This calculator also offers built-in lessons and step-by-step problem solving examples to help illustrate abstract concepts. Choose between efficient RPN (Reverse Polish Notation), Textbook, or Algebraic data entry and rest assured that expansive memory (with SD card slot) means the 50g can handle even the most complex calculations. Graphing features include 2-D function, polar, and parametric plot, as well as 3-D, differential equation, and bar plot.

The 50g's large, high-contrast display with adjustable font type and size clearly shows every important part of a formula, calculation, or graph so you'll be able to clearly read and analyze your results. In addition, you can isolate and evaluate sub-expressions using the intelligent editor, while also cutting, pasting and copying objects as needed. Finally, the large equation library and over 2,300 built-in functions make this calculator ideal for both professionals and students.

What's in the Box
50G graphing calculator, batteries, user's manual, CD (connectivity software and advanced user's guide), USB cable, and premium pouch.

Customer Reviews

Significant improvement but...
It's 10/5/06 and I'm editing this review right up front with the first paragraph, because this little calc has a problem that I hadn't noticed initially. The new HP keys, as I describe below, are great. They have a solid click and a good rollover ability - meaning that you can push the number 1, then push the number 2 before letting go of the 1 entirely, and you'll still get "12" on the screen. That's perfect. Here's the downside: Rapidly enter the number "1100." Click-click-click-click. And yet my screen says "10." Why? Because a rapid double-click of a numeric key results in the calculator noticing only the first click. If a typewriter worked that way, I'd be attending metings every day instead of meetings.

**UPDATE - 10/14/06** One of the commands available, not documented in the 50g material, but documented for several earlier HP calculators, is a KEYTIME command. Quite simply, replacing the default keytime with "500" eliminates missed keystrokes. This corrects the problem I described above.

And now back to my original review:

First, the keypad issue has been addressed with this model, and each key has a feel that is similar to the HP41 - just about perfect for data entry without needing to look at the keypad. Now all that's necessary is for HP to return to the complex keys that allowed for print both on the top surface and the beveled edge; that would allow for some improvement in the user interface. But overall this is a major step forward from the HP49 line.

Next, the display is bright and legible with good contrast. These multiline displays still aren't quite as good as the single line displays from years past in terms of visibility at odd angles but we're coming close. There's plenty of information here with a seven line stack in the default mode.

The manual is where the calculator loses a star. While the new manual is an improvement over the HP48/49 series (though it has less information, it is more understandable), it is nowhere near as complete and useful as the HP41 series manuals were. HP needs to bring back a well-written manual series with use of color, high-end paper, and quality typesetting. For example, the calculator comes with a user's manual; on page 1-20, it says that additional references can be found in Chapter 1 and Appendix C of the calculator's user's guide. What user's guide? They don't mean the manual since that doesn't have any Appendices (or an index, for that matter). Where would I get the user's guide? Then I discover that it is included, and is on the CD-ROM in pdf form. Apparently it is a larger version of the user's manual, with additional information, including an index. Much of the information in the Guide is duplicated from the Manual - but we still don't have complete programming and functional command discussion. Don't get me wrong - everything you need for standard operations is here; but if you really want to get into the capabilities of the calculator (and that's why you're spending $129, right?), we want the full manual. Oh, and bring back the manuals that are spiral-bound so we don't have to weigh the book down with something each time we turn to the calculator to try something.

Here too is a connectivity kit of software, none of which runs on my Mac. I tried plugging it in to the Mac using the standard USB connecting cable (included) but nothing happened. Since I didn't buy the HP with any need to hook it up to my Mac, it's not a problem, but what good is connectivity if noone bothered with the Mac software?

There are a few little nits that still need to be picked. For example, the stack is right justified but data entry is left justified. It is much easier to quickly review an entered number and compare it to numbers on the stack if they are similarly justified. The enter key needs to return to double-width just above the numeric portion of the keypad, and HP should finally pick a standard numeric/operator layout and stick with it. The HP41 had the major operators on the left. The HP48 put them on the right and changed the sequence. The HP50 keeps them on the right but bumped them all up by one key. For those of us who essentially touch-type on calculators, this relearning is a pain.

I must admit that if HP simply rebuilt the HP41C series with more memory, they'd have a clear winner. And given the prices that those models sell for on eBay in new condition, HP could clearly do well with such a product.

The connectivity issue would have cost another star, but the overall build quality, computing capabilities, programming capabilities, and incorporation of RPN on the 50g make it clearly worth 4 stars.

The most powerful calculator available.
I just received mine in the mail today. I do not think that it is officially even released in the US; at least, it is not on HP's English language website yet.

This is the first HP calculator I have ever owned and my impressions so far have generally been very positive. It seems just like the 49g+, but with a fully plastic case and keyboard, a serial port, and a four cell battery compartment.

Compared to the TI-89, the HP-50 seems more powerful. The CAS seems a little stronger, it has a lot more built-in mathematical, scientific, and engineering applications, and the hardware is far superior. The calculator runs on a ARM processor similar to the speeds on low-end pocket PCs, unlike the TI-89's slow custom processor, but the CAS runs on an emulated processor, so it is not as fast as it could be. The HP also has an infrared port and a SD expansion card, so it has no realistic memory limits.

Its liabilities are that the screen seems a little smaller than the TI-89's, the calculator is not nearly as user-friendly as the TI-89's, the calculator only comes with a basic manual of about 100-200 pages while the full 900 page manual is only available on CD, and there does not seem to be as much third party support as for the TI-89.

But if you want the most powerful portable mathematical system available in a handheld calculator, this is definitely a must-buy.

Three words: keyboard, keyboard, keyboard!
At first I was somewhat disappointed with the HP50G, since it essentially has the same form factor and functionality as the HP49G+ (which I also own). Just changing the color doesn't justify a new model designation, IMHO. Wait a tick... the keyboard seems a bit better... played with it for awhile... switched back to the HP49G+... ack! I never noticed how horrendous the keyboard was on the HP49G+. The keyboard on the HP50G is velvet in comparison. If you have been frustrated by the clunky, clicky keyboard on the HP49G+, then the HP50G is the answer. Otherwise, stick with the HP49G+, since it is essentially the same calculator.