Do Dead Calculators Go To Silicon Heaven?

Alas, it is with deep regret that I announce that my calculator has died. Really, I'm serious. This calculator had great sentimental value to me. I bought it back in the dim and distant year of 1987 (when scientific calculators were still nifty new things) for a high school physics class. It saw me through two years of high school physics, five years of college, an astrophysics degree, and ten years of post-college household use. It accompanied me absolutely everywhere, balancing my checkbook, figuring my gas mileage, and devotedly calculating whatever needed to be calculated. Sure, in its last years, it was growing increasingly feeble. The solar panel tended not to work unless held directly to the light. The display was beginning to fade. The case, cracked in several places, was eventually held together almost entirely by duct tape. But it soldiered gamely on regardless... until today. Today, I pulled it out to calculate how many tapes I'd need to record all of Farscape season 3 with no commercials (answer: 3, on long-play), and discovered that the poor thing had become unable to calculate in anything but binary. Sadly, as strong as my desire is to cling to the faithful old machine, I really don't think converting everything to binary before I can work with it is really very practical. Sniff.

Goodbye, noble Radio Shack EC-4014. You were a prince among inexpensive hand-held computing devices from the 80's. You will be missed.

So, uh, anybody know anything about what's good to look for in a scientific calculator these days, if you don't actually plan to do any science?