vintage calc for school work

[Don Shepherd]

(07-10-2014 02:05 AM)brian42 Wrote:  I was recently searching for some old algebra texts and came across some 70's vintage Ti calculators. Which got me thinking, would it be possible to use a vintage calc for school? I'm about to head back to college after being out for years and I will be taking several math classes. I've been contemplating getting a new calculator for these classes but now I'm thinking maybe it would be better to get an older one. I already own a few Ti's and Casios and I'm not completely happy with any of them.

From what I've read on different forums, the HP's and Ti's made in the 70's and 80's were much better quality than the one's they make now. Something that stuck with me was a woman who said she bought an HP in 1979 before she went off to Pharmacy school, and how it still works after all these years.

So is this a good idea or am I crazy? And what models would you guys recommend? I know most people on the forum think the HP41c/cx is the pinnacle of calculators but I'm not willing to spend 400 dollars on a calc. If something happened to it I would *hit a brick.

So a few things I'm looking for:

1. Cheap, 20 bucks or less would be nice but I guess I could spend up to 50.
2. Reliable and accurate
3. If I could get a model that was made in the USA it would be even cooler yet. Although, I guess I'm not against a well made japanese calculator.

I've read about certain models having unusable keyboards and others having errors in their logic. Unreadable screens is another problem I've read about. These are things I'm trying to avoid.

I'd recommend waiting until you enroll and then ask the teacher.