Last week, I presented the HP-71B by Hewlett-Packard. I hope that I convinced you that it was a really enjoyable scientific pocket computer. In my post, I stated that two years before releasing the 71B, HP has introduced the HP-75C. In fact, some of the revolutionary characteristics of the HP-71B were introduced first with the 75C. For example the overall horizontal orientation (but way bigger – 25 x 12.5 cm) and the use of the BASIC programming language. Of course, these systems are pretty different if you look into the details: Capricorn processor of the HP-85 vs. Saturn processor, character LCD vs. full-matrix LCD, etc. But regardless of these differences, the 75C paved the way for the 71B. Another difference: this personal computer was clearly targeting business professionals. It was packed with features we take for granted today in our PDAs – or smartphones –, but in 1982, they were innovative. Having a permanent clock – with alarm/wake-up capabilities –, an agenda and a filer (almost a database) were way too cool. Add to it a solid BASIC allowing the use of these features in a program, good expandability, a magnetic card reader out-of-the-box (but you had to pull the cards manually) as well as an optional bar-code reader or CRT interface, and you have a complete and high-end personal computer. Ah, I almost forgot one last detail. With a price of ~$1000, this computer was really not for everyone! Enjoy the pics.
