Calculators you regret not buying?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(12-04-2023 05:16 PM)esm Wrote:  Which calculators do you regret not buying when they were available new?

With hindsight: All those that turned out to become sought after and very precious collectibles one day :-)

But honestly, back when I had to buy calculators for school and university I was on a very limited budget. I got through that timespan with only three calculators, two of which I received a a gift. The one I actually bought was a humble Ti30 LCD ca. 1981 which had to double for my Ti59 workhorse whilst that was away for repair. Those were the days when manufacturers still repaired calculators because they were considered precious tools that one would use for as long as possible. Like your car, you would first try to get it repaired before buying a new one.

But even if I knew that the HP-42S would become a collectible one day, I would not have been able to afford one in it's day, at least not without renouncing to something that was more important to me then. And when the HP-42S which you cite as an example above, came out in 1988, pocket calculators were a thing of the past already, at least in my (then) occupation. Terminals connected to mainframe computers and unix workstations (I have never worked on a PC professionally) on one's own desktop are the tools of the trade...

Anyway, with inflation and everything, even if an HP-42S was an expesive-ish calculator in 1988, it's collector's value in 2023 is much less in 2023 money. The monthly rent of our appartment in 1988 was about the price of a 42S. The same appartment now costs three times as much to rent than one of the 42S offered on eBay. Which of course is mainly due to the crazy housing costs in some parts of Germany. Buying a calculator to see it's value increase would have been an actual waste of money.
There must be exceptions though, like for example the Sinclair Sovereign with solid gold case. The increase of value of the metal alone over 46 years would have made it a good investment.

(12-04-2023 05:16 PM)esm Wrote:  And which current calculators do you think will be future classics?

Honestly? None. Simply becasue in 20, 30 or 40 years, and this is how long it takes for them to become valuable, the number of collectors will be next to zero. But of course I can be wrong!

Regards
Max