HP

Minicomputers

Calculators

• 12C — Despite the absence of a confirmed launch date in surviving documentation, the HP-12C established itself as a fixture in business and financial applications through a…
• 15C — The HP-15C distinguished itself from contemporaries not by raw speed or display clarity (neither of which the documentation quantifies) but by algorithmic rigor and memory…
• 16C — Market positioning for the HP-16C emphasized its niche as a tool for computer science professionals and engineers, with advertising in technical publications describing it as…
• 25 — The HP-25 emerged during a period of rapid innovation in handheld computation, positioned as a streamlined alternative within HP’s programmable calculator line.
• 28C — The HP-28C marked a significant expansion of Hewlett-Packard’s RPN interface into symbolic computation, aiming to generalize the interface’s ease of use across a broader…
• 28S — The HP-28S emerged from Hewlett-Packard’s Portable Computer Division in Corvallis, Oregon. While functionally similar, the 28S achieved cost efficiency through a redesigned…
• 32S — The HP-32S emerged from customer feedback, a practice Hewlett-Packard emphasized in its documentation, positioning the device as a direct response to user needs rather than…
• 35 — At its 1972 introduction, the HP-35 carried a price of $395, though a 1975 HP brochure lists a suggested retail price of $195.
• 41C — The HP-41C was a modular computation system, a deliberate departure from fixed-function devices of its era.
• 41CV — The HP-41CV’s defining trait was its memory capacity: 2.2K bytes spread across 320 registers, including a permanent .END. register.
• 41CX — The HP-41CX was not a standalone innovation but a targeted evolution of the HP-41 platform, integrating functionalities previously available only through external modules.
• 42S — The HP-42S implemented Reverse Polish Notation (RPN), a hallmark of HP’s engineering calculators, and featured a two-line display that allowed simultaneous viewing of stack…
• 45 — The HP-45 displayed up to 10 digits, automatically switching between fixed-decimal and scientific notation across a 200-decade range, a feature critical for engineering and…
• 48G — The HP 48G runs on the RPL operating system, a stack-based environment first implemented in the HP 18C and HP 28C, and carried forward through the HP 28S and HP 48S/SX…
• 48GX — The HP 48GX represented a strategic repositioning of the HP 48 line toward advanced academic and engineering users.
• 65 — The HP-65 arrived at a time when computational portability was still a novelty, yet it advanced beyond basic arithmetic into programmable problem-solving with a capacity of…
• 67 — The HP-67 was the fully programmable successor to the HP-65, inheriting its lineage while pushing integration and capability forward.
• 71B — The HP-71B occupied a 7.2 x 1-inch form factor and weighed 12 ounces, marketed as a “pocket-sized package” despite its heft.
• 9100A — The HP 9100A emerged from a deliberate act of industrial design first, engineering second. Before a single circuit was laid out, HP’s industrial design group received a…

Minicomputers

• 1000 — The HP 1000 was never a single machine but a modular architecture that spanned nearly a decade of iterative design, beginning with the M-Series in 1974.
• 2100 — The HP 2100-series computers, including the HP 2100A, represented an entirely new design that retained full compatibility with the instruction sets and I/O structures of the…
• 3000 — From its 1972 debut, the HP 3000 was positioned not as a scientific machine but as a dedicated business system, a distinction reinforced by its operating environment and…

Peripherals

• DeskJet — Announced in 1988, the HP DeskJet printer marked Hewlett-Packard’s decisive entry into the personal desktop inkjet market, following earlier experimental models like the 1984…
• LaserJet — From the moment it arrived, the HP LaserJet set a template others followed. It did not rely on radical innovation, but instead offered a functional, self-contained laser…