My Dad had a slide rule and a fancy Texas Instruments calculator with many arcane buttons on it. 😉
My dad has a 30 year old TI scientific solar calculator. Still works like new today. Had to pay a couple hundred for it back in the day when he was in school. When I was in middle school, I paid about $20 for TI’s modern functional equivalent.
His is much nicer, metal case and all versus the plastic shit you get today. But when the innards cost hundreds, what’s a few bucks more for a nice aluminum case?
There’s a decent chance I’m your dad.