The HP-71B was a small handheld computer/calculator programmable in BASIC, featuring both QWERTY and calculator/numeric keypads. It was manufactured by Hewlett Packard between 1984 and 1989. Using a plug-in ROM it could be made backward compatible with programs written for the HP-41.

The HP-71B was the first handheld to implement the IEEE floating-point standard and was HP's first calculator based on their Saturn processor. Like the HP-75C, expressions could be entered in the BASIC environment for immediate evaluation. However, the HP-71B also provided a calculator mode. Unlike most versions of BASIC, the HP-71B allowed (in BASIC or calc mode) automatic/dynamic dimensioning.

It has a 22-character display, 64KB system ROM, and 17.5KB user memory. Additional ROM and RAM could be added through the four plugin-in ports. An optional magnetic card reader could be installed but this was not a popular option as each card could only hold 1300 bytes.

Our HP-71B has the magnetic card reader option, three 4K memory modules, and the HP-71 Forth assembler.

Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard
Date: Unknown

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH34361. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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