What makes "FOCAL" FOCAL?

[John Keith]

I consider the 71B to be a handheld computer, not a calculator: QWERTY keyboard, BASIC language, vestigial "calc mode". The FORTH and Math ROMs do give it more calculator-like abilities but it's still not directly comparable to RPN calculators IMHO.

I still have the 71B that I bought new in 1984 and it was a blast at the time but I seldom use it now, mostly due to the 1-line display.

To get back on topic, I never owned a 41 because they seemed slow and expensive. I agree with Valentin that the 71b is a superior machine.