sorc@carina.unm.edu (Paul Caskey) (03/04/90)
Well, I still haven't seen the 48SX, but between the two posts of the people
that have, I think I've got a pretty good idea. The extra memory sounds fun,
but not worth the extra cost. What is more attracting to me is the I/O
features. If I can type up programs on my PC and upload them to the HP with
little or no pain, that sounds great. My main complaint towards the 28S is
that programming on it is too tedious, for a few reasons. The screen is too
short. There should be an obvious way to tell if you're currently in upper-
or lower-case mode (different cursor would be good). Its memory-management
processing is too slow: the longer the line of input, the slower the keypad
response, and saving programs of any length at all takes way too long.
But most of all, the "ABC" keyboard is too awkward and I'm not looking forward
to getting used to it.
This is my vision of the perfect upgrade to the 28S: A calculator that still
folds open, but on a horizontal hinge, giving a nice wide (if not taller)
display and function keys on the top, and a "QWERTY" keyboard on the bottom.
It would be about twice as fast overall. (The 28S is blazing fast on
computing definite integrals and the like, but it graphs twice as slow as the
Casio 7000G, and has the memory speed problems mentioned above.) And a greedy
doubling of standard internal memory to 64K would be cool. And leave the IR
out but provide some form of external input.
Well, the 48SX sounds like it fulfilled some but not all of that image.
Doesn't fold open? Okay, but like someone pointed out, I like that feature
because it protects from evils like dust. Also, the separate keyboard, while
not a QWERTY, is *really* nice compared to shifting all over the place. If
HP has really done a good job of organizing the single keypad, well....maybe.
External *input* and output? GREAT. That may be enough to take care of any
keyboard and input speed complaints, because I'll just type everything up on
the PC and transfer at what should be pretty good speed considering it'll be a
hard-wire connection. Still ~32K standard? Okay. I can live with such
limits. :-) (Again, if the I/O is done well, I've got a few megs to store
stuff on the PC.) Bigger screen, better graphics, better graphing, external
HP41-like expansions? GREAT. Best curve fitting and lots of neato-keen stuff
for bored mathematicians to play with? :-) Okay. Pretty useless to me, but
I'm sure most people who pay $300 for a calculator expect such things. :-)
All in all I'll have to try the 48SX out myself and see if it warrants selling
the 28S. But I, too, am pretty happy with what I've got. All these
"complaints" are merely things that I think HP should go for-- everyone needs
goals, and technology is going to continue to progress. HP: Next year, I want
to see a 3.5" disk drive on that sucker! :-)
--
/*********/
Paul Caskey
pcaskey@ariel.unm.edu
Only lawyers represent anyone's ideas but their own.
/*********/ge@kunivv1.sci.kun.nl (Ge' Weijers) (03/06/90)
sorc@carina.unm.edu (Paul Caskey) writes: >....goals, and technology is going to continue to progress. HP: Next year, I want >to see a 3.5" disk drive on that sucker! :-) They already sell one. They call it HP Vectra :-) ^ 3 Ge' Weijers Ge' Weijers Internet/UUCP: ge@cs.kun.nl Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, (uunet.uu.net!cs.kun.nl!ge) University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1 6525 ED Nijmegen, the Netherlands tel. +3180612483 (UTC-2)