50g or 49g+?

[Carsen]

I also support the decision of getting a new HP 50g to act as a spare. I actually have a new 50g in storage as a spare myself.

As soon as I got my new HP 50g, I cut the tab on the top of the package off and peeled about 1/3 of the back open. I worked all of the materials out of the package and removed all of the batteries that were in the package because they could leak acid in storage. Then I proceeded to check what version the calculator had, if I had the Equation Library, Periodic Table, testing the "feel" of every key, & running its self-tests. Then I put everything back in its package and stored it. No dust or harm has befell it. Its package is working really well protecting the calculator and it has been more than 1 year.

DavidM is right about the 50g's ability to power itself when its plug in via USB port. I found that out when I had a low battery indicator of my 50g disappear when I plug it into my computer. I find that it is useful when writing long programs on the machine manually

Actually, my spare is better than the one I'm using right now in terms of build. I am very pleased with my past decision.