Original 1980s era HP 12c build quality and cost

[Thomas Radtke]

There were excellent budget calculators at that time. It's probably not the cost of components, but the cost of engineering. 'Recent' calculators like the 35s and the 15C LE suffer from bugs and missing QC rather than from cheap electronics.

Beta test phases have been cut (this was reported here), else some of the many 35s bugs would have been cought, and a better designed debouncing algorithm would have prevented double registration of key strokes on the 15C LE.

Also, it seems iterations in design are too limited, else it would have been noticed the 'roll and click' mechanics doesn't work well for the 35s cursor keys, and HP would have changed the layout.

So, I guess the development costs between starting a project and getting it out to the warehouse have been cut down unreasonably.

Voyagers feel perfect. I have an old 12C and an old 15C, and think engineering made the best out of what was available at that time.