# HP Prime

6 Hacker News commenters recommended HP Prime and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its predictable physical buttons, touch screen, and quick, reliable calculations for daily lab work and complicated math.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful physical buttons and touch screen (2 comments): "The big collection of physical buttons behaving predictably without needing to look at the screen is super useful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139048)) "I love that it has a touch screen where I can quickly copy paste past calculations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46883262))
- Solid alternative to other calculators (2 comments): "but HP Prime also suffices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983460)) "HP Prime is a solid second" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983484))
- Excellent, awesome device to own (2 comments): "I got it for myself in a moment of retrocausal nostalgia and it's pretty awesome." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45894601)) "these are excellent devices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49165649))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [HP 15C](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-15c-calculator.md): 24 recommend
- [Casio S100X Japanese Lacquer Edition](https://hackerapproved.com/p/casio-s100x-japanese-lacquer-edition.md): 16 recommend
- [Casio calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/casio-calculator.md): 14 recommend
- [SwissMicros DM42n](https://hackerapproved.com/p/swissmicros-dm42n.md): 13 recommend
- [SwissMicros R47 RPN calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/r47-rpn-calculator.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HP+Prime+G2+graphing+calculator&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "HP Prime", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-prime/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).