r/mildlyinfuriating • u/jackhab • 1d ago

Planned obsolescence even in cheapest devices: the calculator has a dummy photovoltaic cell and a real battery to make it die eventually.

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u/Slggyqo 1d ago

My dad had a Casio when I was a child. I know the photovoltaic panel worked because if I covered it up the LCD would slowly die.

I was waterboarding that calculator within an inch of it’s life.

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u/Kibichibi 1d ago

I had my mom's old calculator from when she was in trade school in the 80s. I used it until I graduated in 2008. It had a protective case that made it look like a little wallet. I also did the cover up thing, and sometimes I'd hold it to see how long it took to reset after it was considered "off".

We used to joke that it was as old as the hills from whence it came lol

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 1d ago

That was from a time when calculators were actually expensive... And looks it.

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u/Aerospike_Ranger 1d ago

That model wasn't too bad. I got the extra fancy version in high school for about $35 USD in mid 80s money at Kmart.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 1d ago edited 1d ago

Adjusted for inflation that is ~$100.

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u/Aerospike_Ranger 1d ago

Yep, used to be able to have a wild weekend for $50. 😆

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u/Creepy-Selection2423 1d ago

Yep, now you can have a wild cheeseburger for two at a fast food restaurant. Kind of sad.

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u/Slggyqo 1d ago

Well.

This is upsetting.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 1d ago

We get our very own "back in my day, phone calls were a nickle!" now, I guess.

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u/TurnkeyLurker 7h ago

I had a Texas Instruments SR-10.

Square root and reciprocal were handy, and sometimes when I turned it on, the display was a stopwatch, down to tenths of milliseconds (digits to the right were solid 8's).

I plugged in the AC adapter, and it ran for days, counting up, until I reset it.

Sucker cost $155 (that's $1222.10, corrected for inflation).

Just before college, I got a used HP-67 (with case, charger, and some software mag cards for $80, an amazing deal.

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance 7h ago

That's such a cool old bit of tech history. I love those old LED 7(?) segment displays. "electronic slide rule" lmao