Review » HP celebrates 30 years of calculation with limited edition HP 12c Financial Calculator

If you happen to be good friends with an accountant or basically anyone involved in crunching numbers in the financial sector and are scratching your head as to what to purchase for them as a present, might I interest you in what has long been deemed to be the gold standard of business calculation – the HP 12c Financial Calculator, a piece of equipment that the company has sold for three decades straight? Yes sir, how many companies are able to say that they have a product which has been in the market for 30 years or more without having to make any major revisions?

Just what made the HP 12c a classic? It has been touted to have revolutionized financial calculations thanks to a breakthrough landscape layout, making computations more accurate compared to federal standards publications alongside an unmatched keypad which enables users to enter complex formulas with ease, speed and confidence. Heck, it even sports replaceable miniature batteries that allowed the calculator to fit nicely in a (small) shirt pocket.

The 12c calculator has remained a vital tool in the lives of finance and business professionals, and I suppose that HP is more than proud to lay claim to this piece of hardware being one of only two calculators permitted for use during financial professional certification exams. Features of the calculator include Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) that improves efficiency, hence speeding up the calculation of loan payments and interest rates, time value of money, standard deviation, percent, cash flows, bonds and more.

To make sure the 30th birthday of the HP 12c is celebrated properly, HP will be delivering a limited-edition 30th anniversary HP 12c calculator that will feature a unique production number laser-etched on the back, where it will come in an elegant gift box. Apart from that, everything else remains the same. Expect to fork out $79.99 for this puppy when it arrives later this month.