Author Topic: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?  (Read 29617 times)

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Offline h2o

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Re: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?
« Reply #25 on: October 02, 2012, 01:27:21 am »
Trust me; TI makes FAR better calculators than HP! I own a TI-86 (which I've used heavily for over a decade) and a TI-nspire CX CAS (fairly new) by TI, and a HP-50g and a HP-12C by HP. I have used many other calculators by both companies as well.

The HP calculators are build cheaply and they will not last (the buttons have already begun to stick in my HP50g, and I've also lost a line on the display from one small drop). Texas Instruments calculators on the other hand, are build to last a lifetime! I've droped my TI-86 countless times and it still works just like new. I hardly ever use the HP-12C, so I can't really comment on the durability of that, but it looks and feels cheap also. As a side note though; I think the 48-series of HP calculators, prior to the 49 (and 50g) was released are MUCH better quality; but still not as good as TI.

The battery life of the HP-50g is abysmal. My TI-86 lasts years of intensive use, but my 50g only gets a few months. One point a will make though, is to go for the TI-89 or the regular nspire CAS model, as opposed to the nspire CX CAS -- the latter uses a rechargable battery; it's meant for high schools (which is where all their money comes from with graphing calculators), and if you're putting it in a charging cradle, it is great. However, give it a full charge and go to use it a month later, and it's dead! There's really no need for a colour display on a calculator anyways!

Lastly, the HP 50g is MUCH more difficult to learn than the TI-89, but you can work more quickly with it after you've spent a long time getting used to how to use it. However, the nspire series of calculators are not only even easier to learn than the TI-89, but you can do your work far more quickly than even the most skilled 50g user can! In short, RPN is better than standard type, but textbook style entry on the nspire beats the hell out of RPN any day.

The TIs may be more physically robust.  Have a handful of TI-8Xs, they don't really seem to break.  The HPs may not be as rugged; they don't handle drops which does suck.  I think a used 48 would cost more than $140 on ebay.  However for actually using a calculator to calculate, there's no comparison.  Maybe I would rather use a computer than a TI.  You really can't beat the HP.  I'm not sure about the 50, but the 48 has around 100 lines of scrollable input.  Combined w/ RPN, this makes long calculations incredibly easy and simple to review/check.  Also it is probably one of the best calculators for physics.  I don't think you can work any faster than RPN on an HP.  That may be why it's the basis for Post Script....

So if you can make a case/skin for your HP, it may handle rougher handling, but still you should get 5 or 6 years with avg. bumps/low drops on carpet.  The TI is less useful IMO opinion.  I would trade 20 TIs for 1 HP... well actually I wouldn't unless I sold them and then bought another HP.
 

Offline Lawsen

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Re: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?
« Reply #26 on: October 16, 2012, 07:24:04 am »
They are all good.  I have an old TI Nspire CAS and even the student version non CAS with the two detach able keyboards as Nspire or TI-84 Silver edition keyboard.  If you like color than you will need a TI Nspire CAS CX or Casio fx-10CG in North America and same machine, but different number in Europe, the Casio fx-20CG.  The Casio color takes some getting used to of accessing the pi functions and unit conversion, not very intuitive as the TI Nspire.  I have not tried the TI Nspire CX, color.  The HP-50G are good, too.  I have the earlier HP with defective keys.  The TI-84 Silver Edition has a really nice built in software like periodic table and most of the physical constants and handy software.  If you like RPN, reverse Polish notation, then HP Kinpo of main land China is the way to go with all of its defects and quibbles, but no color, yet.  HP Kinpo is behind in calculators, no color model, while Casio and TI have color models.  TI Nspire CAS CX uses a recharge able battery for the color model.  I am sure you already know about Androids, Apple I Pads, and Math Lab, Maple, and Mathematica software.  There are HP 10C, 11C, and 15C replicas made by a Swiss shop. 
 

Offline olsenn

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Re: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?
« Reply #27 on: December 27, 2013, 04:07:19 am »
My HP Prime calculator just arrived! So far, my opinion of it is that this calculator is the most powerful calculator ever made; however, it also has several unforgivable flaws:

    Pros:
             * (Very) Powerful CPU. Extremely fast
             * Beautiful, high-res, colour, capacitive touch screen
             * Feature-rich (Laplace transforms, FFT, etc)
             * Excellent button layout -- especially for HP
             * Textbook (awesomely implemented), Algebraic, and RPN entry modes available.

   Cons:
            * Durability. All HP calculators are cheaper quality than their TI counterparts, but the Prime feels like a $20 Casio
            * Li-Ion battery will die in short time even with no use. No good for storing in a drawer until needed. Same applies to Nspire CX
            * Buggy. HP really needs to focus on testing and QA more before releasing their products. Hopefully, future firmware updates will improve this aspect.

I have barely skimmed the surface of this calculator so far, but if anyone has any questions about it, feel free to ask them here
 

Offline jonmarx

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Re: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?
« Reply #28 on: January 15, 2014, 09:52:03 pm »
That's an impressive collection of calculators!

I have a HP-28S, HP-48G and HP-50G, but the 50G is just gathering dust mainly because I couldn't get used to its keyboard layout (I like the big ENTER key of the older models).  So the 48G - either the real thing or the Android emulation on my phone - is my choice for day-to-day use. 

If I bought a Prime I'd be worried it would end up in the drawer with the 50G. 

So how are you finding the Prime?  Is it your favourite or do you find yourself going back to the older models?
 

Offline olsenn

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Re: Graphing Calculator With CAS, HP or TI?
« Reply #29 on: January 16, 2014, 04:46:03 pm »
Quote
I have a HP-28S, HP-48G and HP-50G, but the 50G is just gathering dust mainly because I couldn't get used to its keyboard layout (I like the big ENTER key of the older models).  So the 48G - either the real thing or the Android emulation on my phone - is my choice for day-to-day use. 

If I bought a Prime I'd be worried it would end up in the drawer with the 50G. 

So how are you finding the Prime?  Is it your favourite or do you find yourself going back to the older models?

I have to say that apart from the poor build quality, the Prime is my new favourite calculator! If I had to only choose one calculator to keep, it would probably be my TI-86, just because I feel that it is more trustworthy as a long-term investment. However, currently having both, I don't ever use the TI-86 anymore.

The HP prime does everything that the other calculators do and more; with the xception of 3D graphing, which (until a future firmware revision) requires a third-party app to do. It has the large 'ENTER' key (like the 48) and does include RPN... However, textbook entry mode is FAR superior! I am even impressed so far with the battery life, which I would have sworn would not have been anywhere near as robust as it is.
 


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