HP 12c Calculator Turns 30, Only Gets Better

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) may be at the center of a markets dance of death. But there is at least one thing this aging giant did right: the HP 12c financial calculator. ($69)

For numbers nerds -- or those of us who like to keep numbers nerds honest -- the 12c financial calculator is a rare ray of truth in an otherwise dark, fetid world of sham valuation. The 12c does exactly one thing, but does it flawlessly. It calculates -- to the penny -- the value of an investment today, tomorrow or yesterday. Over one year or 100 years, for one dollar or a billion dollars, for Shylocks or central banks, the 12c cares not a whit. If you know how much money is paid in, for how long the money is in play and what interest you expect to pay for letting money out of your clutches, the 12c tells you exactly what that deal is worth.

The HP 12c financial calculator is a rare thing these days: It has lasted three decades doing exactly one thing, and still does it very well.

For sure, the 12c ain't for today's spreadsheet/algo-addled kiddie investors. Today's best and brightest just can't handle the so-called Reverse Polish Notation. (It's not 2+2= to get 4. It's 2-[enter]-2+ to get 4. Get over it.) And the iPhone generation is stunned by its tiny little brown screen, hilariously limited functions and the fact that every calculation it does comes free via thousands of online sources.

For the cadre of us who still care about financial reality, though, there is no substitute for the 12c. And to H-P's credit, it has had the wisdom to see perfection for what it was: The company has sold basically the same calculator for 30 years. That's the single-oldest device in H-P's product line -- and probably one of the oldest in all of electronics.

"I think the early day 12c compares favorably with iPads of today," said Dennis Harms, the project manager for the device at H-P, who was kind enough to speak with me at length about his pet product. "It kind of shook up the market and made the best use of technology of the day."