Ti-nspire Cas Graphing Calc
From Texas Instruments
Customer Reviews
TI...Did you forget to include something with my Nspire CAS?
I'm basically saisfied with the product,but can't begin to discribe how poorly written and incomplete the documentation that accompanied it is. Case in point, my TI 83 plus came with a approximately 500 page manual. In contrast,the much more complex Nspire arrived with a 134 page guide. Can't wait for other publications on this calculator to hit bookstore shelves!
TI-Nspire CAS -- A Product-in-Progress
I probably would have given this product three stars, but I feel that I must balance some of the overly generous grades given by other reviewers. I do not believe that a product that merely works merits a five star rating.
The Nspire CAS has the hardware potential to be a quantum upgrade to the aging TI-89, which is based upon late 1980's processor technology. And yet, at the time this review is being written, the TI-89 is a generally more powerful and easy-to-use programmable calculator than the Nspire CAS.
The built-in software of the TI-89 is very mature, and has much more programming capability than the Nspire CAS. This enables it to run thousands of free user-supplied programs, which can be readily downloaded into the '89 from the internet (via a PC) using only software freely available from TI. The Nspire CAS, by contrast, has no "free" connectivity to the PC or internet. Even if it had this, it cannot run programs written for the '89 due to the lack of many programming features, like input/output and menus.
Possibly TI will remedy the deficiencies in the Nspire CAS programming capability in time, but one should not purchase a product that might be upgraded at some indefinite time when a product that already has the needed features is available right now.
I believe that TI is aware of the foregoing and other deficiencies in the Nspire CAS (many mentioned by other reviewers here). That's why they've priced the Nspire CAS about the same as the TI-89 Titanium, despite the Nspire's superior processor (potentially 3x faster execution), massively larger (20x) user memory capability, and somewhat better display.
In the end, it's the software that does the work, whether on a calculator or a full-fledged computer. The TI-89 has proven to be an enduring example of superb hardware/software integration and value engineering, whereas the Nspire CAS, mostly due to immature software, is a beta product masquerading as a production release.
I am hopeful that the TI Nspire CAS will eventually supercede the TI-89. Given software capability that is merely the equal to that available with the TI-89, the Nspire CAS would today be the superior value proposition. Alas, that's not yet the case.
Product Description
The TI-Nspire CAS handheld and computer software has all the functionality of TI-Nspire technology plus built-in CAS (Computer Algebra System) capabilities. Explore, evaluate and simplify expressions, numeric problems and variables symbolically. Experience all the functionality of TI-Nspire technology plus built-in CAS capabilities, which provides the ability to explore, evaluate and simplify expressions, numeric problems and variables symbolically. The TI-Nspire CAS handheld does not include the snap-in TI-84 Plus Keypad, which is compatible exclusively with the TI-Nspire handheld. White box.
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