HP re-releases classic computer science calculator: The HP-16C

I'm a lifelong fan of HP calculators. I have a 15c in front of me right now that I've had since the mid-ish 80s. Still works perfectly.

But the 15c 'Collector's Edition' had some issues, and I wonder about the build quality and reliability of this new one, too. Plus: my guess is you can get an original working 16c on eBay for less than this is going to cost.

Honestly, it pains me to say it but I'd recommend a SwissMicros DM16L instead: https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm16l

They are doing this also for the science version, the 15C.

I bought a 15C in the 1980s, and have enjoyed it ever since. It is like a rock. Despite being treated roughly over the years, nothing is wrong with it apart from some dents in the metal parts and my name, scratched on the back. I suppose I've replaced the batteries a couple of times, but that's it. This thing just refuses to die.

The main thing is that the keys still work like on day 1. And I've never seen a calculator with keys like this, with such feedback that you never need to worry about double-presses or missed-presses.

I just love the thing. If it died, I'd buy one of these new versions in a flash. But I think it will outlast me!

I would get one of these in a hot minute except that my HP-16C that I got sometime in the '80's is still going strong! I rarely use it anymore but a couple of years back I was working on an app that involved bit-twiddling and the 16C fired right up and was immediately helpful.

I have an original HP11C within reach. Still works. Had to replace the batteries this year, after 20 years.

If you replace the batteries, get the good Panasonic silver cells from Newark, not "compatible" alkaline cells. The silver cells were intact after two decades.

Treated myself to a SwissMicros DM16C [1] while waiting for HP to re-relase the original.

[1] https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm16c

This is an HP licensee, not HP itself.

Still nice to see, though the SwissMicros calculators are also very good and will be tough to compete with.

I have one of the originals. It's useful if you do low-level programming a lot, and in a pinch you can also use it as a standard calculator. The biggest limitation is that the screen can only show 8 digits. In binary mode, this can be awkward if you're working with variables that are more than 8 bits. The calculator has functionality for scrolling around the number that's being displayed to try to work around this, but it's still a little annoying compared to newer calculator designs that can show more digits at once.

HP generously gave me a 16C at the end of an internship. It was a weird beast! Amazing a simulating different types of integer arithmetic. Not at all a replacement for the 11C, 12C, or 15C.

I did never use a 16C, but I have a 42 at home and use it very often. It goes so far, that I also have the 42 app on my phone as a replacement for the default calculator app. I am using RPN, and I think I'm the only one in my age category that does (at least none of my friends who studied ever heard of RPN) - it's such a superior way to calculate. I usually have problems to work with a "regular" calculator due to being used to it "4, enter, 5, times" instead of "4 times 5".

If this would be a 42, I would definetely buy it. My 42 is a gift from my father and time did not only good to it.

/edit switched UPN to RPN, as I got the translation wrong

I got mine from my father for high school graduation. It is one of my most prized personal posessions.

I used a 33C in HS and college. Finally in med school during my diversion into the lab, something happened to the little bubble display. And had to upgrade to an 11C.

The beauty of an RPN calculator was that nobody asked to borrow it.

If this uses similar parts as the HP-15C Collector’s Edition in 2023 (which seems likely), then be advised that it doesn’t match the quality of the original in terms of display, key feel, and key labeling (colors). The back side of the 15C CE is also pretty ugly in my opinion [0] compared to the original [1].

[0] https://commerce.hpcalc.org/images/15c-ce-back-medium.jpg

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/HP-15C_C...

I had the Hp15c (and still have) but always deeply longed for the hp28s, which was the first to implement a lisp-like programming language in a calculator. Had I bought that one, who knows how different my computing life would have been…

I wish they would re-release the HP50-g, I had one somewhere but it got lost and I _loved_ that thing!

An HP 48S was my constant companion during engineering school and RPN was a lovely introduction to elegant expression-scaling.

The specific ergonomic feel of those buttons remains unrivaled.

With this and Casio's S100X-JC1-U is there some kind of retro calculator fever?

I still have my 16C, and it still works perfectly. I got it in a swap for a 15C and 11C, so I got the reissue 15C when it came out, and it's not up to the quality of the original.

Gosh I need one so badly. Used ones are up to about 500USD.

Pity the international shop is down

Whoa! My parents had one from back in the day. I think one of their companies gave them out.

I still remember the way the buttons made a nice tactile thunk as you pushed them.

117 USD if ordered before July 31.

HP 20S or GTFO

It's always interesting that they use ARM chips to emulate the original firmware.

I would love a programmers' calculator but I really hate RPN. I wish they would make one without it. Back in the day they did it for efficiency. But that's no longer an issue these days.

I do still have a mint HP48GX but never use it for the same reason. The successor the 49 had normal math as an option but it was not as iconic.

It's an "official licencee" so it's not actually HP manufacturing it. Still, I'd love to get one if it feels like the original.