Some publishers even offer purchase of the calculators at a discount courtesy of TI. TI provides tons of input, including free hardware to the writers and to the book publishers, and gets their calculators' keysequences published DIRECTLY in the book. (Can I type in the equations from the textbook and get the answer? Oh boy!) Casio is hardly worth mentioning.This is exactly what I've seen. Sharp and TI are deep in "pretty print" territory, so much so that the N-Spire is less calculator and more animated high-school math tutor. Tablet/phone calculation means no buttons which means you have to look at the keys. Honestly, though, there's nothing else out there. The 50g fixes most, though not all, of those mistakes. Many people tried the 49 and decided never to "upgrade" again. The buttons were crap, the color was bizarre, the speed wasn't engh to justify dropping a 48. A slightly shorter lifetime isn't unreasonable. It also doesn't cost $400 in 1995 currency. On the other hand, it's a hell of a lot faster than the 48 series, has more comprehensive software, and has a much more durable screen. The HP 50g is not as bad as you probably think. For what the 48GX cost in real terms back in the day ($200 mid-90s dollars), you could put the price at $350 for an equivalent or better mechanical build, and the better computing power and connectivity would be a freebie - it would be harder to put the old processor in there than something more powerful. I kinda feel that there needs to be an effort to build a calculator specifically for engineers, not just kids in high school calculus who don't want to learn how to do symbolic integration. Something that isn't built from the ground up with a stack and RPN is not really an option for me. I spent so much time with the HP that I can barely use an ordinary pocket calculator. I really can't use a non-RPN calculator anymore. They have no competitive pressure to not make a piece of crap because they spend so much on coke and hookers for textbook publishers that every student has to buy their calculators anyway. TI has always cheaped out on buttons they have no defined break and are just mushy. I don't think in the current age of cheap crap made in China by slaves you're going to find anything made with buttons of such quality.
Fortunately my 1997 vintage HP48GX is still going strong. I've looked for a replacement periodically for years.
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