Hewlett-Packard HP-33E Handheld Electronic Calculator

Description:

This programmable handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case and thirty rectangular plastic keys. The model was introduced in May of 1978 and sold through 1982. Most keys take on different meanings if the gold "f" shift key or the blue "g" shift key is pressed. The calculator has limited programming capabilities, but no device for storing instructions from one session to the next. Behind the keyboard are an on/off switch, a program/run switch, and a ten-digit LED display. A mark on the front edge reads: hp HEWLETT • PACKARD 33E.

The socket for the battery adapter is along the top edge. The battery compartment is at the top of the back. The back also has four rubber feet. Text on the back reads: SERIAL NO. (/) 1933A74736. Another mark reads: MADE IN (/) U.S.A. The first four digits of the serial number indicate that the calculator was made in the thirty-third week of 1979.

The calculator has a brown and black zippered case.

This machine was a replacement for the HP-25. The series included the HP-31E, the HP-32E, the HP-33E, the HP-33C, the HP-34C, the HP-37E, the HP-38E and the HP-38C. Compare 1987.0435.09 (an HP-25) and 1987.0435.10 (an HP-33C).

A September, 1978, advertisement lists the price of the calculator as $84.95. Mier-Jedrzejowicz gives a price of $100. An October, 1982, advertisement gives a sale price of $64.50.

References:

W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 56–58, 132.

David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.

[Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1978, p. SD B9.

[Advertisement], New York Times, October 3, 1982, p. 66.