That doesn't really sound like a calculator to me. The screen is bigger than a gameboy, and its system is capable of playing mp3s.

this guy's right. HP's Xpander sounds more like a computer than a calculator. it's price is probably @ $150(ouch!). some people would buy it for work, but it's more likely to be brought for the fun of it. in my opinion, it's a designed like a handheld computer.

sounds cool though=]

Ah, man... Just get the smallest version of the Sony VAIO. It is:

- smaller than a TI-92
- has a 1024x480 panoramic color display (65536 colors)
- has 64 Mb of RAM and a 6 Gb harddrive
- has a 233 Mhz Pentium II processor (may be faster now) -> plays Half-Life
- external MP3 player controls
- a built-in CCD CAMERA -> use it as a digital camera for both photo and video

If you are studying at a university: install a campus licensed version of Maple or Mathematica and realize what real symbolic manipulation is...

The downside: it cost more than a small car...

Sounds like vaporware/vapourware.

$150, ouch?

I payed $240 USD for the TI-92 here in Mexico, plus $55 USD for the Expansion Pack TI-92 PLUS. That's $295 !!
THAT'S OUCH !

dude, the HP 49G costs $180. This puppy will cost into the $200's.

150 dollars? Are you high?!

Hell, you can get a palm pilor for that, and it isn't as powerful. The original HP-48 "super calculators" went for 200 bucks for several years. Now they're a bit cheaper, but still spendy.

No, I would say something in the range of $200 - $300 is more accurate.

When I bought my HP 48S ten years ago, it cost me $800 (US ;-). Thank God the prices have dropped since then.

I paid about 300 bucks for my 48gx about 6 or 7 years ago, right after it came out. I actually bought a sx and took it back a couple of days later when I found out that the gx came out. I still use it and it works great. I've bought some cards for classes and stuff over the years and it's done quite well for me.

That's what was said about HP's 48SX, and TI's 92... Personally, I hope it's the same form factor as HP's 38/48/49 line (and TI's 81 to 90, and 95.) as that is more 'calculator' like, instead of the ugly behemoth that is the TI-92...

no, the TI92 is a very beautiful monster. ti 90 ? 95 ?

I've never understood the animosity for the physical appearance of the TI-92 for its own being (aside from the test restrictions.) It's quite a wonderful machine.

I personally have never used a TI-92 or TI-92+, other than twice in geometry in 9th grade (TI-92). I own an 89, and find that the 89 is in many ways superior to the 92+, particularly in that the 89 is permitted on the SAT series of tests, but all models >88 are banned from the ACT (Anyone dare putting an 89 in a 86 case and coming up with a way to relabel the keys, without taking the keys from an 89 case?). I know someone who has a 92+, and I have seen that in games, the 92+ has a clear advantage over the 89, because of the former's wider screen. The overall layout of the keyboard of the 92(+) seems to be a bit awkward to migrate to from the 8x layout, but i'm sure it can be done. After all, I can type at the following rates on my calcs:
83: 10 wpm
85/86: 15 wpm
89: 20 wpm
these are estimates of course, but are based on prior testing.

e_of_pi and unimatrix zero's 45.59985035114 cents

It would be extremely hard to put an 89 system board into the 86 case because of the 86's LCD/system split board design. The 83+, however, has the same all-in-one design that the 89 has. The only hinderance is that the screw slots in the 83+ system board do not match the slots on the 89's board. It would not be beneficial to drill holes in your 89's system board just to put it in the 83+'s case...

-bK

drill holes in the case, not in the board!

If one was to have the best updates most of the calculators don't seem like calculators. For the best calculator I say get a palmtop computer from Circuit City for 800$ and put vti on it it may be pricy but if you can get your hands on the rom images it could save you money, hell I have the rom images for 89 and above and if I could find working versions I would gave 83+ and above. I saw a color calcultor in target for 70$.
All in all I havn't seen any HP calcs ANYWHERE!! (Target, Best Buy, Meijers, Radio Shack, Office Depot, Staples,etc. if one was inclined to ask DO THEY EXIST?

Hey-
I work at Staples, and we carry HP Calcs, from time to time. But they suck.
YEAH WE GOT THAT
-$hane

I'll also keep on the updates. You can also email me anytime to check for updates.

It looks more like a regular computer than a calculator. I doubt it will be allowed in many schools.

Well, it probably will be allowed. That is, until teachers figure out what it is, and what it can do… But as long as it is marketed as a 'calculator', it will probably be allowed, assuming, of course, that you can afford it…

can anyone say a $350 calculator... It still sounds l33t, though. Mmmmmmmm, mp3...

I found out about this calculator about a month ago from a good friend of mine. He told me the price of it but, for the life of me I can't remember what the price was. It was either, $250 or $150 american money. He was french so I was careful to make sure which it was. It will be a great calculator from a great company. As long as it doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard like the 92+ does, it should be allowed on most standardized tests... (but, don't quote me on that)

HP's past in calculators has been a whole lot greater than TI's. They fully support us assembler coders. They have already released some form of an SDK for their HP-49G while TI's version of an SDK (made for flash apps only unfortunately) is only now it the stages of early alpha testing? Or have they moved on to beta testing? They (HP) actually release *USEFUL* information conserning their home-made Saturn processor and on their OS. While TI has given us a list of ROM CALLS.

Have a nice day,
Glenn Murphy

Speaking of the Qwerty rule, what exactly is the thinking behind it?

~Oh, when will people understand that the DVORAK keyboard layout is > QWERTY? Well, they could just click that link up there…

They don't want you to copy the test questions into your calc

Isn't that what the scratch paper they give you is for?
Besides, we can always type in the abcd format on graphing calcs pretty easily. I've heard (false) claims of 60wpm.

You aren't supposed to be able to take scratch paper out of the test, but it's rarely enforced.

I knew someone who could type at least 40 wpm on the abcd format.

Back in the day, I could type 40wpm on my HP 48SX... Now (due to lack of use) I'm probably down to 10.

on my TI-83 plus i can type 55 wpm!!! i use my 83+ at least twice a day!

a cheap mp3 player cost about 100 dollars (u.s.) color lcd cost about 100 and a graphing calc cost 100 the new hp calc will be pretty expensive!

If you want an mp3 player, get a Genica. 650MB of mp3s on a CD. Let's see HP make a calculator w/ a CD drive.

I think i could type a good 40 wpm on my 89, but i'm not sure that is accruate. I use a nifty C program i made that mesures one second as one blink of the cursor on the home screen, but when the calc is busy, it usually throws that off quite a bit.

I think the reasoning behind the QWERTY keyboard rule is just that there needs to be some distinction between calculators and computers. Rather than making a list of every single calculator/computer ever released, they just use the QWERTY keyboard as a guide. Although it is kind of rediculous with the TI-89/92(+).

~I don't know. It's kind of sad right now. On one of the contests, it said "No calculotors with QWERTY/Dvorak keyboards allowed". Nobody other than me out of the twenty or so people taking it even knew what a Dvorak keyboard was.

The reason it is not alowed on account of the QWERTY keyboard is because it technically makes it a computer.

About the DVORAK keyboard:

All I know about DVORAK is that I play a duet composed by him on the piano. :)

Glenn Murphy

the SAT people panicked about the TI-92 while it was in development. They didn't want a calculator that could do symbolic manipulation. So they talked TI into configuring the 92 with a QWERTY keyboard, and SAT made a rule against that. TI eventually got tired of the deal and released a calculator in a reasonable form factor (the 89).

Are you sure this is true?

Would a calculator be restricted if it had a removable keyboard, like for some PDAs?
that would be interesting.

That would be really cool! Would it be possible to hook up some sort of keyboard to the TI-89 through the linkport? Like those folding keyboards for PDAs? You could take notes in class on your 89! That would be useful.

Or you could ::gasp:: take notes in a notebook, or, if allowed, a laptop or pocketpc.

And then how do you use that in a test where calculators are allowed?

Oh yeah. Sorry, I wasn't thinking.

Actually, yeah, this could be done pretty easily...(well, sort of). The 89/92{+} will accept keycodes over the link port, so just get yourself a cheap PIC. Two pins to talk to the calculator, a couple more to run a PS/2 keyboard port (or a USB one if you get a newer PIC). Get one of the miniature PS/2 keyboards, and you're set. *grin*

HP dropped the Xpander just recently.