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Handhelds Hardware Technology

TI-84 Plus Released 386

Posted by Hemos from the calculate-the-heck-out-of-it dept.
clear issue writes "The TI-84 Plus has now been shipped, and is avalible through a few distributors. (Try froogle) Besides the new stylish interface, when compared to the 83+, the 84+ has a number of technical advancements including a 2.5 times faster processor speed. To see how this new device compares to your current calculator, check out ti's comparison pdf chart. TI has even dedicated an entire web site for the promotion of the 84 Plus."
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TI-84 Plus Released More

TI-84 Plus Released

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  • Graphics (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:01AM (#8971926) Homepage Journal
    If you want to have a real chuckle, check out the Custom Graphics section [84silver.com]. I was a TI 99/4A die-hard, and I couldn't help but remember my old system, and coding graphics from 99er Magazine, in all its glory, upon setting eyes on those custom graphics. I must have one of those calculators.
    • Damn, I I thought _I_ was the only guy that remembered making 16x16 grids, making them binary, then converting them to hex!

      "FEFEFEFE" damn "FDFDFDFD"

  • How long? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Panaflex ( 13191 ) <convivialdingo@yaho o . com> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:01AM (#8971934)
    How long before they relase the TI 99/4A?

    Pan

  • Ahem ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by airrage ( 514164 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:02AM (#8971942) Homepage Journal
    With the TI-84 Plus, all students can now share their work by connecting their TI-84 Plus to any TI presentation tools for the whole class to see, fostering a collaborative learning environment.*

    (*) Kids can now network to the smart kid in class and steal answers via infrared USB. No longer do you have to seat near the geek to get good grades!

    • Re:Ahem ... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Slack3r78 ( 596506 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:06AM (#8971995) Homepage
      And if the smart kid is anything like I was, they've already written a few TI BASIC apps to do all the work for them anyway. ;)

      • Re:Ahem ... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Saint Nobody ( 21391 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:30AM (#8972832) Homepage Journal

        when i was in high school, and everybody had their ti-85, quite a few people would write basic apps to solve problems for class. i, however didn't. i just learned how to use the calculator properly, and generally did things using the equation datatype and the built in solver. the people who wrote programs for the same things were generally more interested in telling everybody how they had written this great program to solve for pressure in the ideal gas law than they were in having a good, flexible solution to their problem.

        i suppose the moral of the story is that people should lose their damn egos, and learn how to use their tools effectively.

    • Re:Ahem ... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Myrrh ( 53301 )
      Eh. But what incentive would the "smart kid" have for letting the other kids download his answers?

      Oh, oh, I get it! Here's what would happen.

      Class bully's parents buy him a TI-84 Plus with an IR transceiver.

      Class bully threatens to beat up the smart kid unless smart kid allows him to download answers.

      Nah ... seems like too much trouble for the bully. Why wouldn't he just beat up the smart kid and take his calculator, complete with answers?

      • Re:Ahem ... (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Phurd Phlegm ( 241627 )
        Class bully threatens to beat up the smart kid unless smart kid allows him to download answers.

        Nah ... seems like too much trouble for the bully. Why wouldn't he just beat up the smart kid and take his calculator, complete with answers?

        Luckily the one thing the bully can't take from you is your intelligence. In my experience, the tough kids usually don't care much about grades anyway . . . until they end up driving a beer truck or sweeping up at the car dealership. Har!

  • Correct PDF link (Score:4, Informative)

    by Patik ( 584959 ) * <cpatik@NosPaM.gmail.com> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:03AM (#8971956) Homepage Journal
    Click here [ti.com]

    I emailed "daddypants" while it was still in the Mysterious Future, but to no avail.

  • fond memories of my TI 57 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jacquesm ( 154384 ) <jNO@SPAMww.com> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:04AM (#8971963) Homepage
    that was my first programmable device, probably the start of the end of my school and the beginning of my career as a programmer !
    • ... yeah, that's right: the one with the card reader and 226 (IIRC) program steps. Got it right around 1975 or so.

      It finally died last year (though I hadn't used it seriously in ages).

  • Cool! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Plugoor ( 655762 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:04AM (#8971966)
    now i can play tetris 2.5 times faster!
    • I say who cares as far as processor speed..it's a nice upgrade, but what I'm excited about is the extra storage. I was always having to delete those, uh, complex algorihrmrrm, programs, that I use..for school..on my 83. Seriously though, as soon as you stuck a couple of ASM programs on there it was done.

  • Better than my abacus. (Score:3, Funny)

    by dawg ball ( 773621 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:05AM (#8971975) Homepage
    It sure beats the hell outta my abacus but my abacus has really low power consumption.

  • Is this a calculator or a PDA?
    • Given the extremely high price compared to the hardware you get (monocrome non-touch screen), you can safely say that this is a calculator. With a calculator, you pay for the software. I wish somebody would come out with an easy to use palm pilot application that has all of these advanced features so that we can stop paying so much for cheap hardware.

  • Education Market Only? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CrazyTalk ( 662055 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:06AM (#8971999)
    OK, so I haven't actually purchased a calculator in 15+ years, but it looks like this model is really geared toward the education market - it includes algebra tutorials, etc. Will a new calculator ever be marketed to make me want to turn in my trusty HP-41CX? (which btw runs on "normal" batteries available in any drugstore, so I never have to worry about the built-in custom rechargable battery dying like with my old, now completely useless TI calculators.)
    • Will a new calculator ever be marketed to make me want to turn in my trusty HP-41CX? (which btw runs on "normal" batteries available in any drugstore, so I never have to worry about the built-in custom rechargable battery dying like with my old, now completely useless TI calculators.
      You must not have tried a TI calculator in a long time. The entire TI-8x line runs on standard AAA batteries.
    • I think TI-8x has used AAA for about 15 years. I suppose you might have gotten a model just prior to the changeover. You CAN put rechargeables in them, AAA rechargables.
    • Why would anyone bother with calculators in non-educational setting today? I am a college student and the only use that I find for a calculator is to use it during exams (when they're allowed). Otherwise, I'd just use Mathematica or Matlab (or their open source equivalents) on a PC. Both of them are a whole lot more powerful than the handhelds will ever be. Using a conventional keyboard is also a lot more convinient.
    • The Ti89 is an EXCELLENT investment. My trusty old 89 is an engineer's best friend.. it does EVERYTHING. I've used it so much that I think I'm wearing out the buttons.. haha not really. But, it uses regular AAA batteries so I don't what you're talking about there. You can put regular or rechargeables in there, I use regular in mine though and carry a spare pack at all times, even though the 89 warns you about a week in advance before it dies. I just have nightmares of it dying in the middle of an exam.
  • This may be a nice calculator, but you'll have to pry my ti-89 from my cold dead hands! That thing can do anything. That calculator just made me breakfast this morning. If you're in any aspect of engineering I recommend you buy one.

  • Does this come with the training video? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gizzmonic ( 412910 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:07AM (#8972006) Homepage Journal
    I remember the awesome training video that came with the TI-82. This weird guy with a pocket protector standing behind a bluescreen which projected a giant image of the TI-82 in the background. Then it would show extreme closeups of his hands hitting the buttons...pure calculator pornography!

    There was also a great showdown comparing the TI-82 to Casio and HP competitors (TI won of course). It was funny because you could tell the calculator dork really liked the HP best, but had to put on a good face because it was a TI video, at least I think it was...does anyone else remember that? God, I have no idea what I'm talking about...

  • Convince your parents!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jrockway ( 229604 ) * <jon-nospam@jrock.us> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:07AM (#8972009) Homepage Journal
    I liked the "convince your parents" section. I'm not really sure that being dependent on a calculator is such a good idea.

    I see things like "14/2", "sin(0)", Integral(1/x,x), etc. in people's histories all the time. Those are the things that you should know how to do; the calculator is making you lazy. Now for things like 239874/12398 calculators are nice, but I'm not sure it's worth $130 to a high school student for something that a 30 dollar scientific calculator can do fine. Graphs are nice, though.

    Going of on a tangent (heh), I rather dislike TI (I found a bug that kills your memory and TI refuses to fix it), so go with an HP48/49 if you need graphs. TI is for students that "want to do well on tests", HP is for people who do mathematics on a regular basis, IMO. That said, my TI89 is pretty useful.
    • Kids in HS have tons more work to do than I did even in the 1990s. Calculators are tools they are not crutches. Why should you *need* to know how to do stuff manually when there is a tool to do it for you?

      • Re:Convince your parents!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Abcd1234 ( 188840 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:30AM (#8972245) Homepage
        Well, from a purely pragmatic standpoint, it helps you work faster... the guy/girl who can do sin(0) in their head will inevitably finish a test faster, and hence have more time to check his/her work, than the guy/girl who has to punch it into a calculator, meaning better grades. And that ignores the benefits of actually *using your brain*...

        Frankly, I don't understand how you can defend the idea of needing to punch sin(0) into your calculator. I mean, honestly, if that isn't a symptom of the tool being used as a crutch, I don't know what is. How far does it need to go before you'll admit that the tool is being misused? Hey, maybe we should give calculators to the really young and screw teaching them how to add. After all, they've got *so much work* these days, why should they have to do it themselves when there's a tool to do it for them?

        And as for the idea that school is somehow harder these days, I'd love to see proof of that. I'll guarantee you that the curriculum in school hasn't changed much in the last ten years, if anything, because such things just move slowly (changing curriculum is not a trivial operation).

      • Re:Convince your parents!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by joshki ( 152061 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:35AM (#8972288)
        because you need to understand the fundamental concepts behind them. Amount of work isn't the issue -- if you don't know what the sin of 0 is, you don't understand the sin function. Too much math is taught by saying "just punch it in the calculator", and then the student thinks sin is a magical function that throws out these numbers for no reason.
        Students in high school should never be allowed to use calculators at all -- let alone graphing calculators. They're a crutch that makes it even harder for them when they make it to college, or even the real world.
        Using a calculator to do problems in the real world is fine -- but calculators have no place in a learning environment.
        • I disagree. Students should be allowed to use calculators to check their work. It will save time for the teacher. If a kid wants to check to see if they've got sin(0) right, let them.

          But I never saw the point of flailing out derivatives and integrals when A)I knew I wasn't ever going to use them in my career as a web developer and B) If I ever had to do them by hand (meaning no calc) I'd have more important things to worry about, like finding food. (My calc is with me everywhere.)
          • I'd like to add that if someone had told me that I just had to learn calculus for a test that I wouldn't have resisted the idiocy that was my calc class so much.

            I'm going to do that for my kids, because unless you're a math geek, calc is just college credits, because you never see engineers solving derivatives on paper. That will let them focus on really important things, like band.

          • Re:Convince your parents!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

            by joshki ( 152061 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:35AM (#8972888)
            The point is, if you don't know why the sin of 0 is 0, then it doesn't matter whether you got the answer right or not. I can understand not wanting to do derivatives and integrals -- but if you don't want to learn how to do them, why bother doing them at all? Calculus isn't required for IT degrees, at least not where I study, and if it is required, it's because someone who's probably a whole lot smarter thinks there's a good reason for it.
            I find calculus in many things outside a calculus classroom -- just because you don't use it in your job doesn't mean it's useless. Calculus is a way of thinking more than just a problem/solution kind of math -- learning how to do those derivatives and integrals teaches you how to think better than anything else I know of. And those engineers -- you may be right that they do them with computers and calculators all the time, but that doesn't mean they don't need to understand what the computer is doing to solve the problems. If you don't understand how to set up the problem correctly, the computer can't give you the right answer.
            • As I noticed: I wasn't too good at algebra until I applied it to geometry. I wasn't too good at geometry until I applied it to calculus. I was okay in calculus but differential equations really solidified it. Algebra, "odd" factoring, etc. is useful and very very solid for me now. So learning more math helps you solidify what you already have. That's a good thing.

              And while most problems in the real world are just "type it in and get the answer", there's always something that the computer doesn't know
      • I also used to think that. Then I started college and have since had to learn to do basic algebra without calculators. Turns out you actually understand it quite a bit better when you're not instantly going off to "punsh in the numbers" instead of thinking of the problem first.

        Granted that's not really a problem with calculators it's just that it's faster to do an attempt on a calculator and check the answer than to take the time to analyse the problem first and then do the calculation. When you do the cal
    • I hated my HP49 so much that I recently bought myself a brand new TI-89. I do not agree with your recommendation at all. The HP49 is slow and bloated. And compared to the TI-89, it's screen is awfull, to say the least.
    • I thought TI calculators are so popular NOW because they are now what the teachers know - give 'em a TI-83, and they can figure it out. Give 'em an HP calc, and they might not know it. All of the textbooks that mention a graphing calc usually mention the TI-83. It's kinda like Windows - it's not the best for the job (I don't use graphing calcs, but my scientific is a Casio, as I don't like TI's scientific calcs one bit), but everyone uses it.

  • "Bar of Soap" design ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by torpor ( 458 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `musibi'> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:07AM (#8972020) Homepage Journal
    ... ew, is it just me, or does the new 'bar of soap' design really stink!

    "Bar of Soap" is a design methodology that inherently is supposed to deteriorate, collect dust, and give the device an 'outdated feel and look' within 6 months time. On OOBE, it is supposed to feel like a bar of soap, give the user an intimacy like only a bar of soap can give you, and inspire that 'oooh, intimate toy' feeling. And then 6 months later, when it starts to get 'dirty', gives the user a desire to 'replace it with something new' ...

    The old, rugged case, even with years of grime and dirt, still didn't give you the 'replacement' feeling. BoS is a dirty consumer electronics design trick, and it sucks to see the TI's going that direction ...
  • Having been a die hard HP48GX user since high school, I finally got sick of the bulky size, weight, and lack of development of the HP line (until now with the 49 etc). Well, HP isn't interested in making a dual line RPN stack calc, so I picked up a Casio fx-115MS and have never looked back. I would have gotten one of the TIs but, they didn't have the interface the casio has. So long RPN.

  • Great, more calculator dependence (Score:5, Interesting)

    by frostgiant ( 243045 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:09AM (#8972039)
    Just look at the apps that come built-in on this thing:
    Cabri Jr. - now students can use their calculator to get all the answers in Geometry!
    "Alter geometric objects on the fly to see patterns, make conjectures, and draw conclusions" No longer will students need to learn how to prove things, they can just draw two triangles and say "my calculator says so".

    Probability Simulation - "Explore probability theory with interactive animation that simulates the rolling of dice, tossing of coins and generating random numbers on your handheld."

    Come on, this is NOT necessary. Every TI I have seen has nCr and nPr function built in. Why not teach the students HOW those work rather than using this shortcut method?

    When I was in high school, most of my teachers were really good about not allowing the use of calculators on quizzes or tests. There were a few in the school, however, that gave "use your calculator" as a solution to hard problems. Calculators like this will only add more to this growing problem.
    • Jesus, I took out my dad's calculus text from the 1960's and it was a joke compared to my text from seven years ago. The amount of work required to work complex integrations or multi-derivitives not to mention systems of equations was just insane. You could do maybe a handfull of problems and all you really learned was the steps involved, not the big picture. Going through and doing tons of examples including real world problems made me have not just a firmer grasp on the subject but also an apreciation of
      • But that's an example where a calculator would be beneficial. You'd have to know what the numbers meant, and how to set up an equation so that it spit out the right number.

        However, my calc experience was "Here's 50 problems, prove them." Of course, my calc teacher was an asshole, and my response to the above question is jury rig a float that'll make noise when it gets 90% full. Now can I go to band?
        • Well it's actually a real world problem, a float might not work for several reasons (it's food grade material so cross contamination is a concern, there's no one there to move it because it's an automated process which runs even when the shop is closed, etc). Although it can be seen as a bit contrived because most containers are a known volume and most pumps are rated at flow rates as well as HP, but my dad who has his own chemical sales business does solve problems like this on an almost weekly basis.
          • And I'm sure he wrote a little function where you enter volume of the container, pump horsepower, etc and it spits out the answer. That's what should be taught. Things like that make it easier, but solving the function makes more work. The three virtues of programmers are laziness, impatience, and hubris. Math teaches diligence, thoroughness, and humility. They are inherently incompatible.
    • What is the use of calculators? This is the main struggle with teachers these days with two camps. One says you should be able to do everything by hand (as every good mathematician should) and the calculator is simply a guide for some of the tougher problems. The other realizes that most people taking math classes these days are not going to be studying math for the next 8 years, and it is not their passion. Thus, they use the calculator to explain concepts and it is the use of this tool that allows the

      • Re:Great, more calculator dependence (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Carmody ( 128723 ) <slashdot.dougshaw@com> on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:49AM (#8973030) Homepage Journal
        One says you should be able to do everything by hand (as every good mathematician should) and the calculator is simply a guide for some of the tougher problems.

        Really? I know some astounding mathematicians who are not able to do square-root extraction by hand. They forgot the algorithim to compute sqrt(11) to ten decimal places. (It is similar to the long-division algorithm, and used to be taught to every student)

        And, technically, you should not be adding or multiplying numbers unless you can derive the concept of "number" from the five Peano axioms using set theory. Yet I know some lazy mathematicians who never took enough set theory to do this "by hand." Yet they get by.

        Calculators are not like cliff notes. Mathematics is not all about the arithmetic. Calculators are more like word-processors, that allow us to formulate our thoughts on books without having to stop every five minutes to sharpen our nibs, grind our own ink, and change blotters.

  • TI-89 (Score:4, Informative)

    by thedillybar ( 677116 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:11AM (#8972052)
    The TI-89 lives another day. This calculator has survived a long time. This calculator is so upgradable and versatile, I expect it to last for many more years.

    When TI finally releases a better calculator, I hope they also release an upgrade for the 89. After all, the hardware will be sufficient for a long time. With 700k+ memory and a good-sized processor (I think it's 33Mhz underclocked to 11Mhz), it should work very well for just about everything but non-linear differential equations and other extremely CPU-intensive operations.

    When the time comes, all we will need is a firmware upgrade to keep it around for even longer without having to upgrade. I've used this calculator for 6 years now, and I recommend it to everyone looking for a high-performance calculator. I hope to try the new HP calculator so I can compare to the competition, but I just don't think I can set my 89 down after all this time. I know it all too well.

    • Re:TI-89 (Score:4, Interesting)

      by cavebear42 ( 734821 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:55AM (#8972498)
      "Pretty print" is worth whatever dollar amount they put on it. It virtually eliminates mistakes made by careless calculator users. I am an engineering student in my senior year and I don't know how I would have survived without my TI-89.

      I am really astonished that TI (or anyone else) continues to make any calculators at all without this function.

      --for non-TI 89 users--
      "Pretty Print" is the feature which takes:
      lim(e^(42x*sqrt(2))\x,x,0) and puts it on the display as you would have written it by hand. It also keeps pi/sqrt(2) as an answer as you would have written that by hand rather than a decimal approximation (unless you use the approximation button)
    • A new Ti-89 Titanium is comming out in a few months. They bumped up the memory and USB cable is standard. Don't know about the processor.

  • I don't get it. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by disneyfan1313 ( 138976 ) * on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:16AM (#8972103)
    I feel bad and perhaps it is because I feel ripped off by the "you have to buy 20 diferent calculators during your schooling monopoly" (i.e. Class A requires TI-83 Class B requires TI-84, ect.. and no they will not let you substitute a diferent model number) but it seems like a racket. 99.999999% of the functions are available with palm os and windows CE software.. Why pay all this cash for a limited device when I can buy a cheap palm that can do 3x as much.. Oh yeah: The monopoly at school.. thats why.

    • Re:I don't get it. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by djplurvert ( 737910 )
      I've never had that problem. Most profs are understanding enough. The only limititation I have encountered is that they will not necessarily know how to help you. Since I am quite comfortable with my calculator, that has never been an issue for me.

      I'm talking about university of course, not high school/middle school.

      plurvert

  • Stylish... (Score:2, Funny)

    by hottoh ( 540941 )
    This is what stylish looks like.

    http://www.hp41.org/41Drawing.jpg

    Not saying the 41 is better as I have not reviewed the new TI. I still find it the best looking calculator ever designed.
  • Is this at the expense of battery life?

  • TI and the Calculus Scam (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Walker ( 96239 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:23AM (#8972167)
    Before I begin this rant, I should mention that Texas Instruments does not actually make these things anymore. They sold off their calculator division long ago. Hence these things are TI's, not Texas Instrument calculators.

    The company that does make them makes a good deal of their total revenue of these things. And in order to keep this revenue coming in, they have made themselves the official Calculator of Calculus (TM). Every major textbook is geared for this calculator, and even the AP exam requires it (or something very much like it) these days. I get students in Calculus straight out of high school who ask me to tell them what the "official calculator for the course" is.

    Now, there are some really useful things you can do with a calculator in a Calculus class. The problem is 90% of all high school calculus teachers are not trained enough to use them properly. And using them improperly is worse than not using them at all.

    I use to be head proctor for the placement exams for the Engineering school at Cornell. The year calculators were added to the Calculus AP, we saw a statistically significant drop in scores. However, when I complain about these problems, I get called a technophobe.

    God, how I hate these things.
    • The year calculators were added to the Calculus AP, we saw a statistically significant drop in scores. However, when I complain about these problems, I get called a technophobe.

      Sorry for asking sort of an obvious question, but did that drop in scores turn into a trend? Or was it a one-time thing?

    • Re:TI and the Calculus Scam (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Kainaw ( 676073 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:51AM (#8973049) Homepage Journal
      However, when I complain about these problems, I get called a technophobe.

      Whatever name you are called, it is only by the ignorant. Computers of all kinds are making humans dumber in many areas. Most students cannot answer simple questions, like what is 7 times 8? They also cannot spell because Word will correct the spelling for them.

      It is considered a minor problem in the United States. I have been studying reading and writing Chinese for many years and the 'computer assistance problem' is considered far worse over there. Without computer help, kids in the US can figure out some sequence of letters that makes them understood (I can't tell you how many times I've graded a Computer Science test with 'integer' spelled 'interger'). In China, missing a few strokes or adding one in the wrong place will completely change the meaning of the character. So, students there have trouble getting understood without having a computer help them pick out the correct characters.

      While I don't like it, I think of it as the slide-rule example. Who is required to learn to use a slide-rule anymore? It isn't required because it isn't needed. With the same argument, why should Chinese kids learn to write all the Chinese characters from memory when a computer picks out the correct words for them? Then, why should any student learn 7*8 when they have a fancy calculator (really a mini-computer) that will do the thinking for them? When these little computers do enough of our thinking about the unimportant stuff, we can spend more time thinking about important stuff, like the Simpons.
      • Or it can actually free you to think about more complex and important stuff. Try doning real world calculus problems by hand, it'll take you HOURS (at least). Now try and do more than one of them on a test, in less than an hour. You NEED a calculator to automate all the basic shit. Funny thing, you learn more about what's important too. It does not matter anymore to be Johhny-on-the-Spot with mental math. It matters to be able to apply high level complex math to real world problems in an efficient manner.

        C

  • TI-86 Etc (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Enigma_Man ( 756516 )
    I always preferred the 85/86 to the 83/82. The "UI" of the 85/86 is just... better. The buttons are organized the way they should be, and not grouped according to if you're doing your taxes or not.

    What about those ones? According to ticalc.org, they're the "engineering" oriented calculators, maybe that explains the above paragraph...

    Then there was also the 92/89 pair, but that always seemed a bit silly... I don't need to have 3d graphics, thank you :D

    -Jesse

  • Need to Convince Mom and Dad? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Avian visitor ( 257765 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:27AM (#8972207) Homepage
    Am I the only one that is disgusted by all these "Need to Convince Mom and Dad?" [84silver.com] buttons (see bottom left) that are popping up everywhere?

    I mean, how long before companies begin to advise children to cry out loud and shout that their parents don't love them if they don't want to buy them their product?

    Yeah, it's a bit offtopic. I know.

  • Support my F'in TI-86 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The lack of support TI offers for users of the TI-86 calc is appalling. That friggin comparison chart _proves_ that for only $10US more than an 83+ Silver (dunno how much the new 84 costs) you get a _lot_ more features. This is the best TI calc you can buy for the money. The 89s and 92s are better of course, but they're about $70 more expensive last I checked. The 86 has more features in most areas and what it lacks can easily be made up for by a solid community of enthusiasts (www.ticalc.org) who write Z80
  • Without the TI-82, I don't think I would have passed college physics.

    Thank you TI-82

  • Physics Class (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dan667 ( 564390 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:33AM (#8972270)
    In college I remember taking the final and 10 guys spent all of 10 minutes taking it. They had programmed their calculators with every possible question (from the homework) and all made 100%. I spent 3 1/2 hours taking the test because the test was so hard no one else was done in 3 hours so they gave us more time.

    I still hate those guys, but I am not bitter ...
    • In college I remember taking the final and 10 guys spent all of 10 minutes taking it. They had programmed their calculators with every possible question

      This reminds me of something I always wanted to do back in college:
      Walk into an extremly difficult test for a course I'm not in (Advanced Thermodynamics or some such thing), sit down, doodle on the test for ten minutes, and walk our with a really smug look on my face. (Maybe even cough and say "easy" under my breath.)

      Everyone would be going: "Damn! W

  • Comparison chart (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ctrl-Z ( 28806 ) <tim.timcoleman@com> on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:41AM (#8972365) Homepage Journal
    To see how this new device compares to your current calculator, check out ti's comparison pdf chart.

    What if I don't have a TI calculator? My calculator is a pencil and paper, you insensitive clod!
  • Make a TI-86 with the same features, and the capability for wireless "multiplayer notepad" with a range of 20-30 feet buried down in the menus. I guarantee it will increase test scores more effectively than anything GWB has done so far ;)
  • Have you ever noticed that calculator improvements come in really odd sizes? Like, memory is sold in powers of two, but the 84+ has *three* times as much memory as the 83+. Huh?

  • Stylish Interface? (Score:3, Funny)

    by rblum ( 211213 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @10:49AM (#8972448)
    Look, this calculator is all sorts of cool. What it is not is stylish. Not even remotely. Heck, it's so ugly, you'd get kicked out of Starbucks by your local Apple crowd just for bringing one!
  • How to calculator manufacturers decide to number a new model? I can kind of see that "8x" and "9x" describe two families, but shouldn't "x" have some relationship to order of an entry in that family line?

    If I hadn't seen this story, and someone told me that they just bought a TI-84, I'd be amazed that they'd bought something older than my trusty TI-85: "You paid how much for a model a decade old?"

    Has anyone managed to figure out this ordering? Doesn't it currently go something like 5 -> 6 -> 9 -

  • You'll get my HP-41... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by n9fzx ( 128488 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:09AM (#8972630) Homepage Journal
    ...when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

    Prior to 1983, I went through at least one TI scientific calculator per year -- literally wore them out as an engineering undergrad. After having one go on the fritz during a chemistry final, it was time for a change.

    And what a change indeed. Bought an HP-41C, which was quite expensive on a student't budget, but I figured that maybe it would last two or three years. Twenty years later, it's still within arm's reach, looks just like the day I bought it, no bouncing keys, no flickering display.

    But the real reason it's still in my arsenal is that it turned out to be the ideal tool for working EE AC circuits problems. The '41 can do complex math, in both polar and rectangular coordinates, and flip back and forth between those two representations with ease. I have fond memories of walking out of a tough exam after only 20 minutes, handing my completed (and aced) test to the very suprised professor. Thanks Dave and Bill!

  • TI-84 not really all that new (Score:3, Informative)

    by Re-Pawn ( 764948 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:20AM (#8972750)
    I purchased the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition [ti.com] about a year and a half ago. The Processor is 2.5 times faster than the TI-83 Plus it has 24KB RAM and 1.5MB flash memory and it stores up to 94 applications. It also came with a cable to hook it up to an USB port. As far as I can tell, the 84 is nothing more than a repackaged 83 silver edition.
    On a good note - despite heavy use I have only had to change the batteries once in the last 1 1/2 years.

  • The slow march of pocket calculators (Score:4, Interesting)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Monday April 26, 2004 @11:39AM (#8972922) Homepage Journal
    You know, it's bizzare almost. This seems to be pretty much the only truly new calculator from TI in the 80x range since I was a sophomore in highschool, like 7 years ago.

    a 2.5x speedup? The machine I had then was a pentium 75! I guess this is what happens when you have no competition.

    Why would you need more CPU power in a graphing calc? Well, graphing for one thing. It can take a couple seconds for these things to draw a graph. There are plenty of high-power low-cost chips out there that could crank most of those out almost instantly.

    And lets not forget the games :P. TIs were fun in HS, but it's just amazing to me how little they've advanced...

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