What product is HP known for? What do they do best?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard has some answers.

I only really know them for their printers, and even then I don’t think they are that good.

In our labs we used HP equipment. It was the gold standard. The old pieces still are. Volt meters to 9 digits. The HP4192 analyzer is still going strong after 20 years and is still one of the most sought after pieces in the lab. Their spectrum analyzers, frequency counters, and signal generators are fantastic. Old ones still work perfectly.
Justifiably or not, when they made the name change and started making parts outside of the US we became suspicious.
We used to joke that HP stood for High Performance. What does AT stand for?

The used to make the best laser printers. No question. Then it changed somehow, and now they’re as mediocre as everyone else.

Lots of things, but for one, I’ll mention calculators… especially if you’re in finance or engineering disciplines. They’re built to last and many people continue to use them for many years after college.

The HP 12c financial calculator is HP’s longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction in 1981 [ source ].

For engineering, the HP 48sx 48g 48g II and 50g programmable graphing calculators have been the gold standard for as long as they’ve been in production.

In my opinion, HP is responsible for mainstreaming the use of Reverse Polish Notation in handheld calculators. Once you go RPN, baby, you never go back.

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Dedicated calculator devices are likely on the decline what with the increasingly popularity of mobile computing platforms, like iOS and Android.

HP is ready for that, having released iOS apps for several of their classic calculators already.

@robmandu Completely forgot about them. I still have my HP-45. I even changed the timing crystal so I could use it as a timer. Fantastic piece.
RPN all the way, baby!

I still have my HP 15c. It is older than some of the newly hired engineers at my office!

I have owned two HP laptops that didn’t last three years between them. The thing they do best is probably this

I think it safe to say that calculators are what they are what they do best while printers are what most people know them for. Back in the day, they did decent printers. Those days have passed, but they still do great calculators. Of course, I don’t need one since my HP48G is still going strong after almost 20 years.

To give you an idea of how great their calculators are and how much people love them, just look at all of the love and admiration that just the people in this thread (myself included) have for them.

@robmandu I think I’ll stick with Droid48