# HP 48G

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-48g-calculator/

13 people recommended HP 48G in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 9 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its fast RPN workflow, satisfying keys, and long useful life, and the most common caveat is that it has no backlight.

Summary written by Claude from 18 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Satisfying tactile keys (2 comments in the sample): "its keys are simply a delight to press compared to even the best glass touchscreen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45892190)) "It had such a nice crisp tactile feel to the key presses" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48376978))
- Owners still use it for decades (2 comments in the sample): "You can claw my HP48 out of my cold, dead, hands." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981547)) "I still have my HP 48G and love it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45888760))
- Community ROMs and emulator apps (2 comments in the sample): "released HP48 ROMs into community curated public license at the end of the product life-cycle" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49251420)) "the emulator apps are the most used apps on my phone/ipad" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850600))
- Used for exams and learning (2 comments in the sample): "what I took SAT-I and AP Calculus BC exams with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981688)) "RPL IMO is underrated as an educational tool." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49063164))

## What people warn about

- No backlight (1 comment in the sample): "the thing that makes the HP48 series much less useful is simply that they lack a backlight" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48521856))
- Screen can fail or go dark (1 comment in the sample): "the display has gone dark even though the device is functional" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45890723))

## Other calculators people recommend

- [Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-84-evo/): 29 recommend, 10 mixed, 50 criticize
- [TI-89 calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-89-calculator/): 25 recommend, 6 mixed, 8 criticize
- [HP 15C](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-15c-calculator/): 21 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize
- [TI-83 Plus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-83-calculator/): 15 recommend, 4 mixed, 8 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "HP 48G", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-48g-calculator/ (13 recommend, 3 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.