It seems nobody likes the 97

[Siegfried]

(06-08-2023 12:43 PM)John Garza (3665) Wrote:  Maybe desks have shrunk in the 21st century?

So where does that leave the HP desk calculators? Are they all relegated to storage? If so, why do their prices remain high? Certainly not as an investment - better returns are available elsewhere in more commonly known items. Is it some sort of psychological 'collector drive' where people hoard these things like squirrels collecting nuts for winter? As for me, I like to take them out and play with them. I derive no value in having machines in storage - other than backups. I get no thrill from 'bragging rights' about having such and such machine in storage.

The psychology of collecting... might be worth some research.

-j

When the Topcats were designed, most users' desks did not have a computer on them, so they had more space.

I gathered three partly working and non-working HP97s with the hope to find time to get one working unit and pass the remainder on (and one of them was too good a deal to pass). I enjoy anticipating the day I'll have enough time to start tinkering with them ;-)

There must be various modes of collecting, some are after "one of each" while others just enjoy gathering stuff without much of a system (would be interesting if that correlates with BMI, I have heard the theory that you can't lose weight without letting loose some of your possessions).

In the HP line, the absolute worst relation between desk space usage and functionality must be the HP46.