Except for that rabid gang of early adopters, most of us hold back on purchasing new technology; it's only going to get cheaper (not to mention less buggy). If you need an example of this, take a peek at the Sharp LC-8 advertised here. One of the first wave of transistorized electronic calculators in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the LC-8 was an exciting advance in handheld technology.

At $345 (roughly equivalent to $1800 today), the LC8's price was out of reach of many consumers. But that was a comparative bargain compared to the crop advertised above, in 1969. In 2008 dollars, the prices range from approximately $2200 to $7200.

With the advantage of hindsight, too, we know that things were going to get much, much smaller than the three-pound "space age baby" advertised in 1970.

On the other hand, those of us who grew up in the 70s will never forget the first time a deep-pocketed relative with one of the new "pocket" calculators typed in the number 07734 and made us look at it upside down. hELLO!! Yeah, kiddies, that was hundreds of dollars of fun right there.

12:40 PM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Lynn Peril
1,061 views
17 comments

Comments

fabescore at 12:50 PM on 02/28/08
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my dear old english pops always reminds me (when i complain about the price of a TI calculator) that the first calculator he bought cost him over a grand (back in the day to boot).
PriorMarcus at 12:53 PM on 02/28/08
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Well, I'm still holding out hope that Calculators of the future do look like that, so screw you - unbelievers!
BlacklistedJoe at 12:58 PM on 02/28/08
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what's the name of that backwards-3 letter again?
JoeyTheHobo at 01:06 PM on 02/28/08
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I, for one, welcome our mighty calculator overlords...
Midwesterner in NYC at 01:08 PM on 02/28/08
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Hard to believe based on these adds but Electronic Calculator Systems at 15 W 44th St is out of business. I wonder if there are some of these gizmos still floating around in the back room at the now Nihon Med-Spa?
Ed Grabianowski at 01:14 PM on 02/28/08
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Connectedness Index: 55

Hm. io9 videos always run choppy for me, even when I let them preload. Wonder if it's a Firefox thing.
Gyrus at 02:16 PM on 02/28/08
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And to think, my $600 Mac Minni has a calculator widget that is almost an afterthought.

Want to really blow your mind: We put a man on the moon with less computational power than is available in an iPod.
PriorMarcus at 02:18 PM on 02/28/08
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@zeppelined: They run fine for me if I let them preload and I'm using Firefox too. Odd.
da5id_nz at 02:55 PM on 02/28/08
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I posted on Lifehacker's site HERE (with photos!) that I have a SHARP calculator circa: 1985 that STILL has the ORIGINAL batteries in it!

I know that might be hard to believe but it is true!
da5id_nz at 03:01 PM on 02/28/08
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pps, speaking of retro - before the electronic calculator came out, the best thing you could get to add/subtract/multiply/divide etc was the CURTA, invented by a Jewish man in Hitler's concentration camps.

They used to advertise it on the back page of Scientific American (see ads on site from 1961 and 1971) for $125.00

At the time this was a huge leap from the suitcase-sized adding machines that visiting accountants would have to carry around.
da5id_nz at 03:09 PM on 02/28/08
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ps, you can see a curta in action on video
+ Watch video
">HERE.
EBone at 03:11 PM on 02/28/08
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I still have the first "pocket" calculator I bought in 1974. A small Sharp handheld green LED unit, about an inch thick, three inches long and two inches wide. It cost about $20 bucks, and I had to get an advance on my allowance to buy it. It still works on 2 AAA batteries, although a couple of the keys have to be pressed really hard to work.
icarusprime at 03:33 PM on 02/28/08
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@zeppelined:

It was really choppy for me too preloaded and I am using IE. Usually don't have a problem with Gawker videos.
SoulCarnival at 06:30 PM on 02/28/08
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80085?
Jamesema at 07:22 PM on 02/28/08
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I bought my first calculator in 1978 for High School. I had to go to a calculator shop to do it. Back in the day these things were not sold in office supply stores the only place to get one was a specialty store. At least in Reading U.K. Bought a TI 30, with a red LED screen. I still have it today, its still works (But to be honest I use Calculator.app on my iMac for my modern number crunching needs.
Mouser_UK at 08:55 AM on 02/29/08
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i have a realy old hp21 RPN calculatior that I ought to try and get fixed.
lever2k at 12:07 PM on 03/01/08
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What really amazes me is that the Palm Centro I have as my telephone, organizer, etc. is more powerful than the desktop computer I owned 13 years ago.