Yep, things have sure changed in the past few decades, but one classic tech gadget has stayed impressively the same: Hewlett-Packard’s best-selling 12c financial calculator, which first went on sale 30 years ago and has remained in stores ever since.
That’s a pretty remarkable statement—especially considering that HP is the very company that just killed off its new TouchPad tablet barely a month after it landed in stores.
Armed with a one-line, 10-character screen and a bunch of keys that … well, do things I know nothing about (hey, I was an English major), the 12c “revolutionized financial calculations” thanks to its “breakthrough landscape layout,” according to HP. (I’ll take their word for it.)
If you want to own a piece of history, you can get a 30th anniversary “limited edition” of the iconic calculator for $80.
That’s $70 off the original, 1981 asking price of $150, which (adjusted for inflation) comes out to $373 in today’s dollars.
LINK: HP Celebrates Enduring Icon with Limited-edition 12c 30th Anniversary Calculator