Calculators

Sadly there is one serious problem with the machine. Strictly speaking it is not year 2000 compliant. Your date range is 1950 - 1949 and can only be entered as two digit years. TI have no work around for this either.

If you just want to number crunch all day long, this calculator gets my vote. Everything is in front of you on the keypad, you don't have to navigate around registers or menus. The keyboard is light and sensitive and easy to use. And the way the functions work together is very flexible.

The HP 12C. What can I say about this beautiful piece of craftsmanship. This not just a calculator, but an example of fine engineering. Sort of in the same league as a vintage car. You can almost here the engine purring gently when you turn it on. In comparison with the BAII Plus and the 17BII it lacks functionality. You will also see criticisms of its speed. But in reality this is untrue. What the 12C lacks in processing speed (and the difference is so slight that your calculations won't be affected) it makes up for in form factor and ruggedness. Don't underestimate this. The keyboard is industrial strength and so is the case. You can sit there banging away in RPN with one hand without even looking whilst you follow columns of figures with the other. You gain the best of both worlds between a heavy duty desk top calc and a neat pocket calculator. There is one other big advantage, which is the wealth of tutorials guides and papers about using it available for free on the internet.

But for uncompromising power, the HP 17BII is, for me, the ultimate financial calculator. It isn't as cumbersome as the 19BII but has everything I need from that calculator. The functionality is comprehensive, and where you might find limitations it gives you accurate work-arounds. The solver is indispensible. You can enter a formula and set up variables to enter as if you were using built in functionality. And it will solve for which ever variable is missing. Did you get that? - it actually does the algebra for you!!!

The 17BII is fast and rugged and I haven't yet found something I can't solve either through the built in functions or by programming it.

Pros
- Lots of built-in functions. Seems like as many or more built-in financial functions than the HP17BII+.
- Better statistics functionality than the HP17BII+. Statistics is very important for business classes. The HP suprisingly lacks some basic functions, like population standard deviation.
- Has some trig functions. It can actually be a decent scientific calculator. Overall it's more versatile than any of the HP business calculators.
- Better build quality than the new HP's.
- Can be used for many standardized tests. You will not be accused of storing functions because you can't.

Cons
- In my opinion, not as user-friendly as the more menu-driven HP17BII+. The BAII+ usually requires more keystrokes and is not as intuitive. However, it's not so difficult that a good student can't learn it.
- Cannot store functions. Of course, if it did it would cost more and could be banned from certain tests.
- If you're one of the few out there that like RPN, it is not an option. The new HP's let you choose between Algebraic and RPN.

One thing that suprised me about the HP was how much their quality has gone down. They used to be the best built calculators. Now they are the worst. Look at the reviews of the new HP's. It's true! If HP doesn't get their act together, I think they will be out of the calculator market.
It would be nice if TI had a business calculator that could store user-defined functions like the HP17BII+ and have a more menu driven interface. The solver function would justify the price of the HP17BII+ if only the build quality was up to par. The quality of the newest BAII+ is not quite as good as the older ones, but it is much better than the quality of the new HP's.

(1) Ease of Use: Look, anything that's new to you will require some time set aside to learn about it. It will take no more than 15 minutes of perusing the manual before you know this calculator like the back of your hand. I don't know what the goofballs in the previous reviews meant when they said this calculator was hard to use--they don't even sound like people who work in finance. And whenever you need to lookup a function, just refer to the manual--what's so hard about that?!!

I used the HP 10Bii calculator. This thing actually used REGISTERS for input. In other words, it's not like entering data into a "spreadsheet"-style list that the TI has. You actually have to remember all the cash flows and data that you enter into the registers of the HP; there's no viewing, inserting, or deleting of data like the TI allows you to do. It doesn't have all that the TI has, and yet it costs exactly the same. Huh?

(2) Cost: Folks, if you want an HP calculator that is comparable to the BA II plus, you will have to shell out anywhere from (dollar amount). This is nothing new; HP always had this arrogance in pricing their calculators high--come on guys, they're all pieces of plastic made in China. What, you like the rigid feel of the buttons on HP? Well whoop-dee-doo, I thought we buy these things to perform calculations...

(3) It's got everything, Need I say more?: For instance, did you know you can perform statistical regression analysis, where you can input an "X" variable and have the calculator compute the corresponding "Y" value on a least-squares regression line? You've even got trigonometric functions (SIN, COS, and TAN) as well as the inverses of those functions.

Trust me, this is a serious calculator packed with all the basic financial tools you need, all for a REASONABLE price (read: affordable). If you want something more serious, then by all means, screw the HP, and just use Microsoft Excel.

TI BAII Plus is as good as HP19II if you don't need text editor (what a waste), and HP solver (it's the only thing I like about HP 19II). With 1/2 the price of HP 12C and much better performance, it's an obvious choice, especially if you are buying for CFA exam. (HP=High Price, Horrible Performance) TI is the leader in calculator (graphic, and financial).

I am going to buy one more to use it as a backup calculator in the CFA exam.