HP Prime
Shares rank 18 of 21 calculators by recommenders
People recommend it for its predictable physical buttons, touch screen, and quick, reliable calculations for daily lab work and complicated math.
People recommend it for its predictable physical buttons, touch screen, and quick, reliable calculations for daily lab work and complicated math.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful physical buttons and touch screen
“The big collection of physical buttons behaving predictably without needing to look at the screen is super useful.”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “But can your calculator run Linux?” “I love that it has a touch screen where I can quickly copy paste past calculations”
Comment from 4 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still physical calculators?” Solid alternative to other calculators
“but HP Prime also suffices”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Ti-84 Evo” “HP Prime is a solid second”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Ti-84 Evo” Excellent, awesome device to own
“I got it for myself in a moment of retrocausal nostalgia and it's pretty awesome.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “The R47: A new physical RPN calculator” “these are excellent devices”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “But can your calculator run Linux?”
Other calculators people recommend
The four most recommended other calculators, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo | 41 | 53 | 44% | 4 | 10 yrs7 owners | — |
| TI-89 calculator | 31 | 8 | 79% | 8 | 28 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| HP 15C | 24 | 6 | 80% | 5 | 41 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| TI-83 Plus | 21 | 8 | 72% | 6 | 30 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| HP PrimeThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“these are excellent devices”
“The big collection of physical buttons behaving predictably without needing to look at the screen is super useful.”
“HP Prime is a solid second”
“but HP Prime also suffices”
“I use my HP Prime G2 daily in the lab for basic things as well as quickly calculating complicated stuff”
“I love that it has a touch screen where I can quickly copy paste past calculations”
“I got it for myself in a moment of retrocausal nostalgia and it's pretty awesome.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.