Texas Instruments Shifts Focus to PC-like OS for the Graphic Calculator
Texas Instruments Shifts Focus to PC-like OS for the Graphic Calculator
Posted 09/09/2009 at 1:23pm
| by Paul Lilly
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School is back in session, and that means you or someone you know is probably in the market for a TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator. Never mind that Texas Instruments released a more high-tech version last year called the TI-Nspire. The problem, some math teachers say, is that the Nspire is more complex than it needs to be, even if it does function more like a computer than any calculator you've used before.
"TI-Nspire is a bit of a different model. It is taking us more time to have the market understand that," said Melendy Lovett, head of TI's education technology unit.
While the five-year-old TI-84 Plus remains Texas Instruments' best selling calculator, the Dallas-based company hopes the Nspire will solidify its position as the market leader in the oft-overlooked, yet highly profitable calculator business.
So what makes the Nspire so different? An OS that makes the handheld number cruncher function more like a PC, for one. Students and teachers can run spreadsheets, take notes, view multiple representations of a problem on a single screen, create, save, and review work in electronic documents, and more.
"It sings, it dances, it does the dishes for you," said math tutor and retired teacher Lucinda MacKinnon, who also owns an Nspire. "I can't imagine getting teachers to use that thing in the classroom. There is way too much going on."
Forget about figures of speech - if Texas Instruments comes up with a program that would allow the Nspire to do the dishes, it could charge double the $135 asking price.
Image Credit: cslaurenides.qc.ca
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mikeart03a
September 10, 2009 at 11:56am
Heh, TI's still at it huh? Can't say that I enjoyed mine much... an old TI-83+ and I had the PC connectivity kit for it too. The thing froze and crashed more often than the PCs in school labs (which were bug infested and we had a crap ass tech). Now it sits in a drawer somewhere with all my other old crap as it bricked itself during an OS update.
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mesiah
September 09, 2009 at 8:49pm
I'm sorry, but texas instruments calculators are a racket. Even back when I was in school the prices they gouged people for were ridiculous. Fast forward to 2009. You can buy a netbook that has a full keyboard, surfs the internet, plays video, crunches any number you need it to, and has a full color screen and fully functional OS for $199. Meanwhile Texas instruments is still raping school kids for $100+ for something that has less power than an old gameboy from 1990. But since texas instruments kissed so much ass in the education world back when they were getting started with graphing calculators, they are pretty much the only acceptable calculator of the class room, and can charge whatever they want. When I was in school I decided to buy a casio instead, it had more power, a larger screen, multiple color display, and was 25% cheaper than the Ti-84. What happened? I ended up having to buy a Ti Calculator anyway because my school didn't understand how the casio functioned and was afraid I might be cheating.... So, you have to ask yourself, How the hell can Ti get away with charging over $100 for a $2 plastic case, $5 processor that would be outperformed by my old 386 computer, a $3 LCD screen with a resolution about as high as an old light bright, and a few dollars worth of circuit boards? Hopefully they are spending $40 for batteries, because a %90 markup on a product that has hardly changed since I was a child is just insanity.
dbonderczuk
September 09, 2009 at 6:51pm
Relax people. All it does is help you pass a higher level test than the previous calculator.
knexkid
September 09, 2009 at 6:18pm
My room mate has one, and the first thing I said when I turned it on was, "Holy shit!!! This thing has a loading screen! It has to be good!" But seriously, this thing does everything. I don't need to take math anymore. I wish.
magnumsrule
September 09, 2009 at 4:11pm
haha my ti-83 plus still works fine. Plus in the engineering course im in i highly doubt they would allow that sucker in many tests
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