Full Review of the Color TI-84 Plus

KermMartian writes "The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition isn't the first color-screen graphing calculator, or even TI's first color calculator, but it's a refresh of a 17-year-old line that many have mocked as antiquated and overpriced. From an advanced review model, the math features look familiar, solid, and augmented with some new goodies, while programming looks about on par with its siblings. The requisite teardown uncovers the new battery, Flash, ASIC/CPU, and LCD used in the device. Although there are some qualms about its speed and very gentle hardware upgrades beyond the screen, it looks to be an indication that TI will continue this inveterate line for years to come." Lots of screenshots and pictures of the innards too.

Comments

Why are calculators still relevant?

[SirGarlon]

For the sake of discussion, can anyone explain why a special-purpose graphing calculator is still useful? It would seem to me that a good smartphone app could replace a device like this, let alone a general-purpose laptop that can run Matlab, R, and Gnuplot.

Disclaimer: I have degrees in math and physics and never saw the use of a programmable calculator before. Generally I worked with equations and a pencil when I was a student and Matlab or C code once I got a job.