Remember this (Page 2): Looks a bit like the computer Enovac in the movie Desk Set with Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Red Farmer wrote:

I remember 1969 this was in a semi trailer and 4 years later it was in a TI 30.

Looks a bit like the computer Enovac in the movie Desk Set with Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn.

jimkolt Loc: Sun City, AZ

I remember buying a used printing calculator for my office around 1970. It was big, heavy and noisy.

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

47greyfox wrote:

Really enjoyed the cartoon, but somethings don’t get improved upon with time. In the early 80s, I was going to grad school and needed a good financial calculator. I went for the gonzo and bought a HP-12C, which is still available and considered by many as one of the best. As for mine, it still works just fine almost 40 years later. However, to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never used in a bathroom, nor felt the need.

I still use my HP-11C (which was released at the same time as the -12C) almost daily; I wish it was still available. It may die some day.

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

I posted this cartoon on a Facebook page for telephone retirees. Lots of laughs!

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Red Farmer wrote:

I remember 1969 this was in a semi trailer and 4 years later it was in a TI 30.

I remember that era very well. We ran a whole consulting firm with a Prime computer having four hard drives with 300 MB (12" diameter) disk packs.

Now I can get 1 TB on a micro SD card, 3,300 of these ol' disk packs!

bwa

Virgil Loc: The Hoosier State

My wife says we could do with it.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

DJphoto wrote:

I still use my HP-11C (which was released at the same time as the -12C) almost daily; I wish it was still available. It may die some day.

Oh yeah, excellent calculator, the programmable scientific version with identical form factor as the -12C!
Here's hoping they both last as long as we want them. As long as I can buy those little batteries, I'll have a place for the HP and its RPN input.

BebuLamar

47greyfox wrote:

Oh yeah, excellent calculator, the programmable scientific version with identical form factor as the -12C!
Here's hoping they both last as long as we want them. As long as I can buy those little batteries, I'll have a place for the HP and its RPN input.

Those batteries last a long time and they are not that expensive nor difficult to find. I have an HP-12C somewhere in my house. I bought a few HP-11C to give away as gift back in the 80's. I didn't know any better like RPN or Algelbraic when I bought the first calculator. I picked the HP-25 because it looks nicer than the TI-30 or even TI-50 or TI-51. But after that I was hooked. In fact I still have problem using an algebraic calculator now.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

BebuLamar wrote:

Those batteries last a long time and they are not that expensive nor difficult to find. I have an HP-12C somewhere in my house. I bought a few HP-11C to give away as gift back in the 80's. I didn't know any better like RPN or Algelbraic when I bought the first calculator. I picked the HP-25 because it looks nicer than the TI-30 or even TI-50 or TI-51. But after that I was hooked. In fact I still have problem using an algebraic calculator now.

Haha! So do I. I have two -12c calculators. One I bought, the other compliments of General Dynamics, also a HP-22c. Right now, I need 9 LR44 batteries.

BebuLamar

47greyfox wrote:

Haha! So do I. I have two -12c calculators. One I bought, the other compliments of General Dynamics, also a HP-22c. Right now, I need 9 LR44 batteries.

Dollar Tree has 3 LR44's for $1.50. It used to be $1 until this year. They are not that good battery but I assume we don't use those calculators often.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

BebuLamar wrote:

Dollar Tree has 3 LR44's for $1.50. It used to be $1 until this year. They are not that good battery but I assume we don't use those calculators often.

Your assumption would be spot on, personally speaking. All three laid comfortably behind a bookcase door until this posting. So, I'm betting it's been a couple years since I've used any of the three. The oldest 12C back is unreadable. We have a Batteries Plus store close by, but they are way too proud of their LR44s. I just clicked a buy for a dozen from Bezos for $10.61 shipped.

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

I had a Craig led calculator it did add - subtract - multiple - and division and was 8 or 9 inches X 5 inches and took a couple 4 C batteries to operate. After all what more would you need it to do? 😊

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

Smudgey wrote:

I had a Craig led calculator it did add - subtract - multiple - and division and was 8 or 9 inches X 5 inches and took a couple 4 C batteries to operate. After all what more would you need it to do? 😊

I still have my Curta Type II mechanical calculator that I bought around 1967; no batteries required and a beautiful mechanical device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

BebuLamar

DJphoto wrote:

I still have my Curta Type II mechanical calculator that I bought around 1967; no batteries required and a beautiful mechanical device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

That thing is worth a lot of money now.

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

47greyfox wrote:

Really enjoyed the cartoon, but somethings don’t get improved upon with time. In the early 80s, I was going to grad school and needed a good financial calculator. I went for the gonzo and bought a HP-12C, which is still available and considered by many as one of the best. As for mine, it still works just fine almost 40 years later. However, to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never used in a bathroom, nor felt the need.

I got my first 12C when I went to business school in 1977, and for decades it was the hallmark of a certain elite strata of business-nerd-financial professional. I have gone through several over the years, but keep replacing them, although the functions are overkill for me these days. Rare to see such a long-lived product.