Survey posted 2001-01-07 17:22 by Andy Selle.

Contribute ideas to surveys by sending a mail to survey@ticalc.org.

TI-83+ Silver if just fugly.

TI-83+ Silver is just fugly.

I voted no, but I'd have a change of heart if I found one under $20 on eBay.
I could transplant my TI-89 guts and enjoy superior AMS on stuff where 89's are forbidden, plus have a personal organizer in my black case.
I can't deny that the Silver Edition is revolutionary (in a freak show sort of way)!

Speaking of things the 89 is banned on, does anybody know if the 89 was ever actually banned on the SATs and AP tests? I've been hearing rumors, but the college board web site still hasn't added the 89 to its banned list of calculators. Maybe they're just planning to ban it?

It's legal on the SAT's right now at least. I doubt they'll ban it later tho.

I would only buy this calc for two resons:

1. I did not have a calculator, and I needed one for any pre-calculus class.
2. I was a filthy sticking rich tech geek freak who needed to have all the TI-calculators and all the newest tech stuff so I could brag incessantly about how many more "Megahertz" and "Megs of ram" my stuff had, and how much superior it was to your "inferior" calculator, and so I could rave about it's "superior Flash capabilities" until all my friends wanted to strangle me.

I am certainly not choice #1, (I'm in calculus and have a TI-86), and as you can tell by my language, I would probably kill myself before I became #2. Buying a TI-83+ SE would just be a waste of my time. As for the TI-89, it is banned on some standardized tests, and my teacher won't let us use them, so until I graduate, a TI-86 is the best choice for me. Anyway, that's my two cents.

Why the heck would I?!?!?!
IVE GOT A TI89!
the 83+ sux, no offense to all ya 83+ guyz.
I dont care what is improved, its still got a low-res screen and crappy capabilities!
=-)

Dat's right. :)

I've seen a lot of debates about whether the TI-83 Plus SE is better than the TI-86. Well, I own five TI graphing calculators (yes, I'm a freak that must own them all), and they are: TI-81, TI-83, TI-83 Plus, TI-86, and TI-89. Now, I already own a TI-83 Plus. Do I need to buy this calculator? No. Do I want to buy this calculator? Maybe. I will always use my TI-89 when it comes to really really hard stuff, but the TI-86 is a good calculator, and I like it. However, it has its setbacks, but so does the TI-83 Plus, and the TI-83 Plus SE. The TI-83 Plus SE can hold up to 94 applications at once...that's a lot of applications. Now, we all know the TI-83 Plus SE will have a faster processor and will have a crap load more of memory, but what about its math features? Now, I can't rule out that they'll make a Symbolic Manipulation Application or something like that to make this calculator really neat, but you've got to admit, any other calculator >83 is better as far as math goes. Will I buy the TI-83 Plus SE? Probably not...and the only reason I'm saying that is because people would start to worry about me if I got a sixth calculator, but if I lived on my own and I was rich, yeah, I would buy this. But I don't know.
My 2.0000000000000000 cents,
TI83AndTI89Owner

I agree. Some people just don't realize that 83<85, 85<86, 86<89, 89<92.

I'm sorry....I think that you are incorrect in saying 89<92. The 89 is much more superior in computing power than the 92. The only equal to the 89 is the 92+.

92+ is better because of it's Geometry capabilities.

Now... I've only read page 1 of 6. but mostly it's people complaining about which calculator is more "superior" than the other. Here's a semi-intelligent thought for every single one of you: You are all idiots for arguing such a moot (sp?) point. TI makes different calulators for differnt people... meaning.. different calculators serve different needs. There! Now.. which every calculator you think is the best, is.... for you! Personally... I think the "best" calculator (for me) is the HP 49G.. on the TI-side of things... I happen to prefer my 89 over any other calculator.... but given the choice of any graphing calculator to be used for lower level math (anything below calculus)... I would probably go with my Casio CFX-9850GB Plus... but any way you slice the pie... it's what works for YOU best... end of story.

I believe the 83++ is only for people who's teachers want them to get 83+'s and see an advanced 83++. Even if I had an 80 right now I'd still opt for the 86 or 89 (I have an 86 though).

Just my (e^((pi)i)+3) cents.

I don't know, it sounds like a pretty cool idea to me. All of the upper level math teachers at our high school us TI-83s so unless you want to learn all of the functions of the calculator by yourself (which seems to be a problem for many people) you need to be using some version of the 83. And this adds something new for people to get that's a little better but still the same general calculator. And our calc teacher doesn't let me use my 89 on tests which really sucks (so what if I can do derivatives symbolically?) so for the average high school student the 83+ SE would probably be the better way to go. It'd be cool to have one but I don't have the money and already own a TI-89 so I'll live without one. Of course, if they were to come out with a faster 89 with more memory...

It's just the 83+ with a gimmick. And the price won't be nice. I do like the idea of giving it as the contest first prize., though.

I realize that the TI-83 is made for the lesser math classes in high school and those are the main demographic that put millions of games on there calculators. Ever since I left High School the only reason I come to this site is to check out the news and the latest poll. When I was in high school I came here every day looking for new games and I did complain that there wasn't
enough room on my 86. The point here that I'm trying to make is you spend to much time with these games and forget that the main reason for getting them is for math and the programs are there to solve problems in math. How many people here have used there calculator for math and not gaming in the last week. The main reason for getting a new calculator, it gets the math done.

It gets math done, so what? So does my TI-36. It does math, just about all the math you could ask for. Graphing calculators are just calculators with extra features that do stuff that people don't feel like doing. Plus, if you are going for bigger, better, and faster, just use your computer! Of course, it's not portable, but that's not a number one priority if you are just into games, and that's about the only reason why you could want more memory and a faster processor.

I think that the idea of having 1.5 MB of space on a CALCULATOR is kind of ridiculous. I am a programmer myself, but the thought of having that much space to use for programs (and other actual calculator-related stuff) is strange. Why? WHYYYY???

Is there going to be a separate section on the Basics:Calculators: area for the TI-83+ SE?

A few people mentioned that the 83+ is better than the 86 and 89 for the beginning programmer. This isn't true at all. I haven't programmed an 86 before, but I know the 89's BASIC programming environment is MUCH more like programming a computer. An 83 doesn't even allow local variables, named variables, parameters, return values, etc. Plus, the 83 forces you to root through a menu for every command; on the 89, you can just type the darned thing in.

In short, if you mean to learn the fundaments of programming from a calc, you'll just waste your time with an 83+.

(Or you could waste your time *and money* on an 83+SE, which costs only a little less than an 89 anyway, and only gives you features you couldn't hope to make good use of.)

Jyrinx
jyrinx@zerg.com