Customer Ratings & Reviews

This item is for my grandson. He stated he is happy with this

If your coming from HP rpn calculators, but it does everything in it's own new way

Like having a laptop with tremendous capabilities.

Okay okay okay okay okay okay cost cost cost cost cost cost cost

I got this calculator a month ago, and it has been perfect. Before this I used an ti83+ SE and an hp 33s. The 83 was for when I needed to graph and the 33 was for everything else since it has RPN, which in my opinion is better than TI's Mathprint and is a whole lot better than the 83's entry system. I decided to replace the two,and I'm glad I did. Firstly, I didn't want to have to bring two calculators to class, and the Prime certainly has all of the functions of both of them (and a whole lot more). I also wanted the CAS functionality, and I believed that the touchscreen would be useful when graphing (it definitely is). Now that's it for the reasons that I wanted it, and now I will tell you why you should or shouldn't want it. Build Quality The Prime is built very sturdy, and it has a very good fit and finish. The backside and the area surrounding the screen are made of plastic, and the area surrounding the keyboard is made of what appears to be brushed aluminum. The plastic has held up well over one month, and it feels like the calculator will last for a long time. I do have one small gripe though, and that is they used a glossy finish on part of the slide cover which means that it scratches easily. Overall I would give a score of 4.5/5 on the build quality. Keypad The keycaps seem to be of a high quality, and the buttons do not move around at all, unlike my ti83. It really feels good to use, and the keys have a good tactile feel (I believe they use metal dome switches, which means that they are clicky). My only complaint on the keys themselves is that they could use a little more resistance like on my hp 33s, but this is really only a personal thing. The button placement is a lot better than my ti83, and everything seems pretty intuitive. I do wish the enter key was at the bottom though, as that is what I am more used to. Overall 4/5 Touchscreen This is one of the reasons I bought this calculator. The touchscreen is capacitive, which means that it is responsive enough for a calculator. It really helps while graphing, as you can just pinch to zoom and stretch the graph instead of having to adjust it with a menu. You can also tap on part of an input that you are making to fix an error instead of having to use the arrow keys. It's a really nice feature to have, and it is much better than the touchpad solution on the TI Nspire. I can see all graphing calculators using a solution like this in the future. 5/5 Screen The screen is the same resolution as the TI Nspire, and is full color. It works and the color option is nice to have when graphing multiple lines. 4/5 Usability This calculator has the RPN (well it's technically RPL) entry system and it is wonderful. It makes simple and complex calculations so much faster than other calculators. If you don't want RPN, you can also use the algebraic (or as TI calls it Mathprint) system which doesn't have a learning curve like RPN. As for the CAS system, it comes in handy when checking your work in school but note: it means that this calculator can't be used on the ACT. You'll have to get another calculator for that. The rest of the system works well; everything is easy to find, the app system is a lot more intuitive than other calculators, there are many built-in functions (though not as much as it's predecessor, the HP 50g) that add versatility. The software makes this calculator easy to use and anyone could learn how to use it (even if you have no previous experience with HP calculators). Since I am only in algebra 2 I am not able to take full use of this calculators abilities, but I'd say that it has enough to get you through high school. Another benefit that this calculator has is that it is currently the most powerful one on the market, meaning that graphs are instantaneous and everything is very quick. This unfortunately doesn't mean that 3rd party apps are good though (at least based off my experiences with games for the Prime), as allegedly this calculator is not the best to program. I wouldn't buy this anyways if your intentions were to learn to program as the ti 8x series has ti basic which is a good base to learn programming. I would say that this doesn't effect very many people though, and the rest of the calculator's usability is perfect with more functionality than it's competitors. 4.5/5 Value I believe that this calculator is a very good value compared to it's competition , especially considering it costs $30 less than the Nspire CX II CAS and Casio Classpads. In this regard, I give it a 5/5. My personal score would be much lower though because I believe that all graphing calculators, from HP, TI, Casio etc. cost way too much. When you can buy a decent cell phone for $150, why do calculators cost so much? But off with my ranting, and back to my review. Overall I give this calculator a score of 27/30, or a 4.5. My belief is that this calculator is currently the best on the market. If you're an engineer, you'd be better off buying a used HP 48/50g and if you're a programmer you're maybe better off buying a TI. But if you're going into or are already in high school and have plans on going to college, this is the calculator to buy.

Home screen had error. Could not change date and time because of poor software menu. No software and update and support available

I am a ver fan of HP calculators, the prime it gets stuck very often, I have to reset the calculator very often with paper clip, do not buy it

Broke the first time I tried to charge it up. Real piece of ****. Very disappointed in an HP product.

Excellent. Use this for engineering nd science job. Also use for finances. I like the three entry modes - rpn, textbook, and algebraic. Build feels solid. Great price for this calc.

Simply the best hand-held calculator on the market. I've owned one for some time. Bought this one for my grandson who will be an engineer. While he was here he kept experimenting with it, showing me the new functions he had discovered. He isn't that much of a geek. This calculator will serve him well.

Excellent calculator for the office home or school. Even if you don't do graphing, the availability of RPN, textbook, and algebraic modes making this calculator extremely versatile. I use it for finance, engineering, and general calculations. Great feel, nice screen, tons of equations and features. You can also get the Windows app and sync this calculator with the app. For example develop template equations, spreadsheets, etc. and sync it with the calculator.

Yowza! This thing is great. Don't be fooled by any old reviews you see on other sites from way back. This is the new G2 version. It's really fast and the firmware has been updated with some new features. The pinch zoom feature is really handy when you aren't sure what limits to set when plotting.

Genuinely the goat calculator of all time. Changed the game for classes like microelectronics.