hp 50G build quality in today's standards (2018)

[grsbanks]

I have to agree with Jlouis.

I have a 28S in pristine condition. All connectors are in full working order, the keys are still crisp and the battery door is intact.

I also have a 48GX that's in reasonable cosmetic condition. Agreed that the screen could be better on this and it does have the usual keyboard problem in that the [ON] key is inoperative unless you press gently on the bezel below the screen.

However, the 48GX is nearly 30 years old and the 28S is 30 years old. The 50g was introduced only 12 years ago and discontinued 3 years ago. It has not had time to develop any "classic" faults. Who knows? In 20 years from now we might be cursing the 50g for its poor keyboard quality...

[edryer]

The 28S in my opinion is the finest keyboard known to man... when I started using it my impression was like smooth velvet with a satisfying click. I have never known a keyboard so good, and I think after this with the 48S/SX and 48G/GX they were good, still HP quality but not as good.

Incidentally little things I recall about the SX vs S/G/GX was the HP emblem being printed on the G series... but a plate on the SX, definitely a cost cutter, and the weight of the G was quite a bit lighter than the SX that I had (but that could be because the G has no expansion slots).

My issue with the 50G keyboard is the variance, one has firm clicks with a satisfying click, the other is completely soft (in all keys so I doubt it is wear) but still not bad. The difference if you use them side by side is instantly noticeable.

Keyboard ratings in my order (limited experience).

28S
71
41CV
48 series
50G (Sample 1)
50G (Sample 2)
35s

I have owned a few Casio's from the FX-602P upwards and their keyboards today are almost like those thirty years ago - they seem to have perfected the method they use - never, ever seen a keyboard failure on a Casio, and the tactile nature also seems the same over the years. This may well be because they manufacture all their own calculators? So its always been in-house?

[TravisE]

Just a bit of an update on my 50g experience: I now definitely consider the keyboard on this product line, if nothing else, to be sub-par. My newer 50g, which had been up until recently working fine, is now also developing keyboard issues like my older unit. Certain keys (presumably the most heavily used ones) are suddenly beginning to register unreliably and cause frequent doubling even with rather high KEYTIME settings (which then make intentional double presses unreliable). This is quite frustrating and disappointing. The TI graphing calculators' keyboards may have been nothing special, but at least they tended to work properly—even after years of constant use. The 50g units, for me, do not seem to age well after enough years roll by.

[ijabbott]

(12-04-2018 05:58 PM)edryer Wrote:  I have owned a few Casio's from the FX-602P upwards and their keyboards today are almost like those thirty years ago - they seem to have perfected the method they use - never, ever seen a keyboard failure on a Casio, and the tactile nature also seems the same over the years. This may well be because they manufacture all their own calculators? So its always been in-house?

I think the older Casio keyboards were more reliable than the later keyboards. They tend to use conductive rubber contacts in silicone rubber domes these days, which are prone to failure due to wear or (for some manufacturers of remote controls, maybe not Casio) leaching of plasticizers. The earlier models used non-conductive silicone rubber domes activating a membrane keyboard underneath, and also had double-injected plastic keys - none of this printed rubbish!

Having said that, I haven't experienced any reliability issues with Casio keyboards myself, unlike TI and later HP models.