50g or 49g+?

[pier4r]

at the moment I am checking weekly about 50g on ebay (worldwide). I can see that the average price of the lower auctions for the 50g is round about 55-60 euro.

On other sites with less visibility or feedback (see classifieds sites like ebay-kleinanzeigen.de, maybe craiglist in the US ) one can still find it around 40-50 euro.

[Marco Polo]

I deliberately ignored vendors outside EU.
I saw many calcs sold from Venezuela at bargain price....

[pier4r]

(01-19-2018 03:54 PM)Marco Polo Wrote:  I deliberately ignored vendors outside EU.
I saw many calcs sold from Venezuela at bargain price....

I mean those 50-55 are from the EU. Germany, UK, sometimes France.

[aurelio]

(01-06-2018 02:27 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(01-06-2018 01:08 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Thanks for the link, another gap in my collection closed :-) (got it for the start price as nobody else was bidding). Not that I really intend to use it, I don't use the 50g much either. RPL is really not my thing.

Regards
Max

Glad you got it Max. My comments recommending it were intended for collecting, or as a 50g substitute only if on a strict budget.

I have 2 49G+, apparently from very late production, that feel (keyboard) as good as a 50g, but the other deficiencies remain.

In general I agree, always get a 50g for use, as you can't tell which type 49G+ (early with bad keys or late with good keys) you may get from an auction listing, as I am not aware of any reliable serial number demarcation.

Bob, I have both and i used both them daily up a few years ago; maybe my 49+ is a later model, maybe not, but i did not find a big difference in the performance of the keyboard...even not found any problem in reading due to the different colour (the ones I met with the PRIME for example). Both they are upgraded to the same release.

if I had to choose actually I like more the 50g but just for the black, mono-colour, only for this reason

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(01-19-2018 06:39 PM)aurelio Wrote:  if I had to choose actually I like more the 50g but just for the black, mono-colour, only for this reason

Me too. In the meantime I got my (collecting value only...) HP-49g from the States. It has got the "bad" keyboard - really substandard! - never saw a calculator made by Ti with such a bad one and they really are not famous for their good keys. Luckily I do not need to use it! Also the color scheme and key labeling is very poor (whoever chose those Teletubby-style colors must get his color vision checked before designing another product) and hardly readable. This calculator ticks off the "49g"-box in the list but this is about it.

[rprosperi]

(01-19-2018 10:07 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Me too. In the meantime I got my (collecting value only...) HP-49g from the States. It has got the "bad" keyboard - really substandard! - never saw a calculator made by Ti with such a bad one and they really are not famous for their good keys. Luckily I do not need to use it! Also the color scheme and key labeling is very poor (whoever chose those Teletubby-style colors must get his color vision checked before designing another product) and hardly readable. This calculator ticks off the "49g"-box in the list but this is about it.

To be clear, the OP was about a 50g vs. a 49g+, not a 49g. The 49g is infamous for being about the worst high-end machine HP ever made. It was Ok except for those horrible colors (the façade was dubbed "frozen hamster butt blue"), rubber keys (that often broke), it introduced the small Enter key in lower-right for RPN/L (a sin severe enough to make it a hated model, even without the other terrible problems), all those helpful arrow key legends near the arrow keys, (explaining that the Down key means down), etc.

There is no discussion at all about 49g vs. 50g, but as noted above a 49g+ can fill-in if you have a late model or are on a strict budget.

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

The 39G, 40G, and 49G are not completely useless they make great donors of black screens to put into 48S and G models.

My 49G+ does drop some keystokes and it is true my TI-58C never had that problem, quite to opposite on it single keystrokes could fill the entire display, and I found that a lot more annoying than the occasional dropped keystroke.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(01-19-2018 10:34 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  To be clear, the OP was about a 50g vs. a 49g+, not a 49g.

It's a "+" of course that we all, including myself are talking about here! I also have the non-"+" one (in light blue color but with better labeling) which compares to a Ti-82 or 83, a typical educational graphing calculator for middle-school kids.

[Gerald H]

49G ERAM: 255 KB

49g+, 50g ERAM: 127 KB

[Gerald H]

(01-20-2018 11:40 AM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  

(01-19-2018 10:34 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  To be clear, the OP was about a 50g vs. a 49g+, not a 49g.

It's a "+" of course that we all, including myself are talking about here! I also have the non-"+" one (in light blue color but with better labeling) which compares to a Ti-82 or 83, a typical educational graphing calculator for middle-school kids.

49G has CAS.

[Marco Polo]

(01-19-2018 06:02 PM)pier4r Wrote:  I mean those 50-55 are from the EU. Germany, UK, sometimes France.

Strange.....i had searched a lot on TAS.it (I am from Italy) and did not find such auctions.
Maybe some search parameters prevented them to be displayed

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(01-20-2018 07:26 PM)Marco Polo Wrote:  Maybe some search parameters prevented them to be displayed

Did you tick the "Europe" or "Worldwide" option in your search? There are really plenty HP-50 calculators for around 50 Euros on the market!

[Marco Polo]

(01-20-2018 08:05 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Did you tick the "Europe" or "Worldwide" option in your search? There are really plenty HP-50 calculators for around 50 Euros on the market!

Maybe no :-)
Anyway, now I have my spare unit.

Just to give an answer to who wrote about 49g, I considered also a it, but discarded considering that after ten years using a 50g I am very used to speed, large screen and easy transfer from/to PC.
For a while I switched back to the 48gx plus extra memory and metakernel, but I found it painfully slow and not enough stable. The only real advantage was the keyboard and menu organization.
So, my choice was to stay on the 50g.
I am also thinking about selling the 48gx, but still uncertain :-)

[franz.b]

(01-20-2018 07:26 PM)Marco Polo Wrote:  

(01-19-2018 06:02 PM)pier4r Wrote:  I mean those 50-55 are from the EU. Germany, UK, sometimes France.

Strange.....i had searched a lot on TAS.it (I am from Italy) and did not find such auctions.
Maybe some search parameters prevented them to be displayed

tas.it? do you have to go relax at the spa? :-)

[burkhard]

(01-20-2018 01:38 AM)Paul Berger (Canada) Wrote:  The 39G, 40G, and 49G are not completely useless they make great donors of black screens to put into 48S and G models.

I'm going a bit off-topic, but this quote from Paul caught my attention. I was aware that "some" of the less desirable newer models use identical black 131×64 screens to the later HP48's and as such, they can drop (perhaps with more effort than this implies) into a 48 to give it the higher contrast screen.

There are a *bunch* of HP39, 40, and 49 variants though. Which can be donors?
39G: Yes (per Paul, above)
40G: Yes (per Paul, above)
39g+: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
40gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gII: I think NO, because it uses a different hi-res 256×128 grey scale screen
49G: Yes (per Paul, above)
49g+: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
48gII: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
50g: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
Did I miss any?

Some of these are obviously more expensive than others and thus obviously wouldn't make good donor candidates, but I wanted to make a comprehensive list of the 39/40/49/50 models.

Please let me know if my YES/NO assumptions are correct.

Thanks,
burkhard

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

(05-03-2018 03:24 PM)burkhard Wrote:  

(01-20-2018 01:38 AM)Paul Berger (Canada) Wrote:  The 39G, 40G, and 49G are not completely useless they make great donors of black screens to put into 48S and G models.

I'm going a bit off-topic, but this quote from Paul caught my attention. I was aware that "some" of the less desirable newer models use identical black 131×64 screens to the later HP48's and as such, they can drop (perhaps with more effort than this implies) into a 48 to give it the higher contrast screen.

There are a *bunch* of HP39, 40, and 49 variants though. Which can be donors?
39G: Yes (per Paul, above)
40G: Yes (per Paul, above)
39g+: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
40gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gII: I think NO, because it uses a different hi-res 256×128 grey scale screen
49G: Yes (per Paul, above)
49g+: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
48gII: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
50g: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
Did I miss any?

Some of these are obviously more expensive than others and thus obviously wouldn't make good donor candidates, but I wanted to make a comprehensive list of the 39/40/49/50 models.

Please let me know if my YES/NO assumptions are correct.

Thanks,
burkhard

The 39G+, 39GS, 40GS, 48GII are not suitable as while they may have the same display size, they use a different technology to connect the display. The 39G, 40G, and 49G use elastomer connectors like the 48S and G, the newer calculator use a ribbon cable that is bonded to the display and circuit board to connect the glass to the electronics.

Paul.

[burkhard]

(05-03-2018 03:33 PM)Paul Berger (Canada) Wrote:  

(05-03-2018 03:24 PM)burkhard Wrote:  I'm going a bit off-topic, but this quote from Paul caught my attention. I was aware that "some" of the less desirable newer models use identical black 131×64 screens to the later HP48's and as such, they can drop (perhaps with more effort than this implies) into a 48 to give it the higher contrast screen.

There are a *bunch* of HP39, 40, and 49 variants though. Which can be donors?
39G: Yes (per Paul, above)
40G: Yes (per Paul, above)
39g+: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
40gs: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
39gII: I think NO, because it uses a different hi-res 256×128 grey scale screen
49G: Yes (per Paul, above)
49g+: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
48gII: Yes? This seems to have a 131×64 screen.
50g: I think NO, because it has a larger 131×80 screen.
Did I miss any?

Some of these are obviously more expensive than others and thus obviously wouldn't make good donor candidates, but I wanted to make a comprehensive list of the 39/40/49/50 models.

Please let me know if my YES/NO assumptions are correct.

Thanks,
burkhard

The 39G+, 39GS, 40GS, 48GII are not suitable as while they may have the same display size, they use a different technology to connect the display. The 39G, 40G, and 49G use elastomer connectors like the 48S and G, the newer calculator use a ribbon cable that is bonded to the display and circuit board to connect the glass to the electronics.

Paul.

Perfect, Paul. So your original list of just those three was in fact already comprehensive! That's really helpful. I'll need to look a little more into the procedure to open them up and do the swap.

most appreciatively.
burkhard