Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator
by Texas Instruments
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List Price: Our Price: $77.99 You Save: $122.00 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator
Customer Review: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TOOL
Summary: 5 Stars
As an Electrical Engineer, I know that usually a good calculator that is bought at University years, will most probably be with you for life. Mine is an old Casio FX-850P, which back then was a marvel!
Nowadays, my nephew is also studying Electrical Engineering, he wanted/needed a calculator.
A sort of netbook could have been usefull, since they are very small, light, portable, and it's possible to run all kinds of software. But some courses only allow calculators, netbooks and laptops are prohibited. In addition, a calculator is smaller (fits in your pocket), lighter, and the battery life is much much larger. (Have you ever run out of batteries in the middle of important work while using a laptop? It usually happens! Now imagine that in the mid of a test!!!).
After doing some research myself, looks like the TI-89 is the best tool currently available. (HP used to make the best ones, but on the past years most people seem to agree that quality is subpar, and usability has decreased. A shame).
Also important, most of my nephew's classmates also use TI-89's, so I bought this as a gift to him.
TI-89's are extremely versatile programmable calculators/computers. There is a very large community of users who have written software for those things not already within. And if required, anyone with some programming and technical knowledge can write their own programs.
My nephew has used it for a few weeks and so far is very happy. It has already been very useful with some of his classes.
Customer Review: Very good functions.
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently got this calculator and I was inpressed by what all it could do. The layout of the new button design is nice and the USB port makes transfering data from Calculator to Calculator or from Calculator to PC very easy. This calculator runs at 12 mhz, but the 84 beats it at 15 mhz silver edition. I would really not consider speed a factor but if were really looking on the difference in miliseconds or seconds I guess you would.
Pros
Good button layout. Plastic face plate and plastic buttons means no buttons sticking as you push them.
Pre-installed apps for people that arn't skilled in computers.
Menu's make navagating much easier.
Can display extremely large numbers with out scientific notation. Such as 99^130.
Preaty print makes reading your calculator much easier. This helps a lot if you are a student and copying a problem out of a book.
3D graphing.
Much more....
Cons
Some of the letters/symbols above keys for second and alpha are hard to read on the gray back ground.
Not allowed on some tests. I am going to learn how to use both the 89 titanium and a 83 plus becuase of this. My school lends 83
out people for that reason.
Software to connect the calculator to the computer had some problems seeing the calculator on the usb cable. I had to manually tell it where/what it was.
All in all, this calculator is a great calculator. This was my first TI and I hope it lasts for a long time. It should becuase of all the functionallity it has.
Customer Review: Should you buy it for your teenager?
Summary: 5 Stars
Buy it for your youngest child! This handheld computer is incredible! All your work is displayed right there on the screen just like you would draw it out on paper. As you move onto the next problem, the work you just did scrolls up so that you can review it again later. At work, I often enter a large combination of numbers to come up with a grand total. I always enter the numbers twice, in case I made an error the first time. With the TI-89 Titanium, I can simply scroll up and look through the numbers I had previously typed. You can also type in memos and personal goals into a notebook application included in the unit. There is also a planning calendar, clock, flash cards program, to-do list program, a contact list program, and other suprising features. I say "buy it for your child" because if your child is old enough to do addition and subtraction, he or she will enter a whole new universe with this product. Your child will be open to a world that starts with addition and reaches the high levels of Calculus. I know I would rather have my child be fascinated with and take pride in mathematics than a game console. Lets face it, children are fascinated with electronics which involve visual stimuli. One last feature that I like is the hard case which protects the buttons and screen. Note that this is the same calculator that is listed for $190, $210 with names like TEXIT89Titanium, TEXIT89T, etc. Let me know if this review had any influence on you. I hope it did. To your child's success (and yours!) email: MikediLV@Libero.itCustomer Review: a powerhouse
Summary: 5 Stars
This calculator is a little wonder. Its most impressive feature is the symbolic algebra capability (the feature which lacks in TI-83) which allows one to factor and expand algebraic and trigonometric functions, solve quadratic equations, systems of equations, perform matrix manipulation, etc. I even think that it is a little dangerous for a high school student to have a calculator which such possibilities since at least half of algebra, trigonomtery, and calculus homework can be simply solved on this calculator without ever learning how to do this on paper. Mastering the calculator is time-consuming. The paper manual enclosed with the calculator is outright poor, but fortunately TI offers an extended version of the manual on their web site. Actually, there seem to be at least two versions of the manual, both from TI. One can be downloaded from the link on the Amazon page (scroll to the top of this page), the second one directly from the TI web site - go to http://education.ti.com, click on Support, and then on Guidebooks. Both of these electronic manuals are very good. The speed of the processor is sufficient in most cases, although graphing with small step size may take very long time.
The drawbacks of the calculator are obvious and almost every reviewer has already complained about them - second and third functions of the buttons are labelled in barely visible colors; the display lacks in contrast.
Aside from these minor things, the capabilities of this calculator are very impressive.
Customer Review: Everything the TI-83 SHOULD have been
Summary: 5 Stars
Hmmm... my previous review seemed to be a piece of feedback I wished to leave for a seller (new to amazon, experienced on eBay). So, here are my thoughts on the '89.
I upgraded from a TI-84 plus, so I will be comparing the two sometimes (not very fair, huh?) I'll use the terms "TI-84" and "TI-83" more or less interchangeably since they are the same platform, different hardware.
This is everything that the TI-83 SHOULD have been. I can actually scroll through my calculation history now! Woohoo!
On a more serious note, the Computer Algebra System (CAS) on this thing is killer. Math class (in this case, Algebra II and Pre-cal) just got a whole lot easier. I can type in any equation and solve it (and NO, I don't have to set the equation = 0, live with just one possible solution when there are many, or get a "non-real answer" error like I did on the TI-84). It also has "expand" functions - let you expand a polynomial (VERY useful - no more using gobs of paper and time to simplify (x^3+5x^2+56x+89)^50 anymore.
It also lets me factor any expression, simplify square roots, and display problems in pretty print, all things I SHOULD have been able to do on the '83, but couldn't.
The more I use this, the more I realize that this is the real deal - not some slow, low-res, crippled device made for elementary and middle school (Like the '83). Oh, did I mention it can do 3D graphing?
After using the 89, I would never Never NEVER go back to using an 83.