Looking for a new HP 12C?

[DrewNicholson]

Aloha,

You can still get brand new philippines made HP 12C's from Staples, North American packaging. https://www.staples.com/hp+12c/directory_hp%252012c. $50 delivered.

I never did buy a new HP 12C when I started collecting, and I finally did it. I tried getting one on Amazon and even though the picture and part number was 12C, I got 12C platinums, all of them EMEA, not NA.

So if Staples will ship to you and you still want a new one, you can get them from Staples. It feels amazing in my hands, to get a new voyager with nice buttons and everything.

2015 copyright with the pogo pins in the battery port, fyi.

I also got an NA platinum from Staples, but they are out of stock again already. It is also interesting to note that Staples added another product page for the 12C at a higher price, so I wondered if maybe they are getting ready for more shipments, but those are also out of stock now.

HP has totally screwed the pooch on this transition, but that doesn't surprise me given how HP management has totally screwed the pooch on every aspect of the company. I used to work with a guy who was the COO at HP for a while, and he left, and that was like 7 years ago. He was *very* politically astute in big company politics, and for him to bail when he was so close to the CEO slot he wanted more than anything it must have been *really* bad. His weekend relaxation was trail running in the mountains above 5000 feet, so I figure he was pretty tough-minded. I tried to buy a PC from them last Black Friday, and it was a terrible experience. Some of the computers are ok, but their online store is a joke. (In fairness, I don't think any of the PC makers are very good. Except Microsoft, which actually invests in a quality product like Apple does.)

So I very much hope our friends in Moravia can bring this stuff back to life.

Mahalo

[harryp]

I've been tracking that myself, they get them briefly and they're out of stock again. I was considering a 12C Platinum also, although I've had a 12C for years. I think the future of HP products is very clouded. The Moravia site is a mess and they have yet to fix the bug in the HP firmware for versions prior to G2.
I hope that Moravia can get their act together and we can have a reliable portal for sales and service but I am somewhat glum about that.

[rprosperi]

What date code did the serial number have for this 12C?

The latest 12C (and 12CP, 10bII+, and 17bII+ Silver), with "Hewlett Packard" expunged from the labels and branding plus small retention screws added for the battery doors, should be coming soon-ish, and are expected to be functionally identical (at least that was the plan...) so you'll shortly be able to buy yet another, final 12C version. Then again, this has been the case for ~30 years, so who knows....

[DrewNicholson]

(06-17-2022 08:33 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  What date code did the serial number have for this 12C?

I *knew* someone would ask, and I was being lazy about going to the other room where it sits.

PHA14402CR

I haven't looked up how to read these dates.

FWIW, I got a NA HP Prime from Best Buy. Amazon had a bunch for $130, but Latin America versions without the HP USB power adapter. $20 less is nice, if I didn't want it complete from a collector perspective.

Mahalo

[rprosperi]

(06-18-2022 02:52 AM)DrewNicholson Wrote:  PHA14402CR

I haven't looked up how to read these dates.

Thanks.

This means 44th week of 2021 (Nov '21) from factory "PHA" which means Philippines. The "02CR" is some kind of code for the "N'th" unit that week, but these digits are coded in some non-obvious scheme to obscure the production count.