The Future of Charging the TI-84 Plus CE Python isn't Lit.

[TheLastMillennial]

Summary

For the past 10 years, TI has included an LED on their rechargeable calculators, similar to smartphones from yesteryear, which indicates when the calculator is charging or done charging without needing to turn it on. It's quite useful for teachers who have dozens of classroom calculators all charging in a dock. It allows them to quickly identify which calculator is done charging without turning on every single one until a charged on is found. It's also quite useful for troubleshooters, like me. For example, if the LED immediately turns green when the calculator is plugged in, that indicates there's something wrong with the battery and it needs to be replaced.

 

 

Unfortunately, it's speculated that in the name of saving a few cents per unit and maximizing profit on the TI-84 Plus CE Python, Texas Instruments has released a new hardware revision (revision T) which does not include this useful LED.

Quote

TI-Planet: (Translated)
In short, a reduction in manufacturing costs for Texas instruments, with undoubtedly the elimination of both the [charging] light guide as well as all the electronic components relating to this circuit, as well as a simplification of the mold / plastic of the shell.

 

My thoughts

This isn't nearly as bad as when TI senselessly removed Assembly programming back in May of 2020. However, it's still a shame this $150 calculator doesn't even have a convenient LED anymore.

 

As someone who has to diagnose and repair calculator software and hardware issues several times a week, this will make my job more difficult. If someone's calculator doesn't turn on, I'll have no idea if it's a simple battery issue or something more serious. I'll be forced to recommend a battery replacement even though I could be wasting someone's time and money. Sadly, TI doesn't really care about my opinions, but they do care about teacher's opinions. I'm curious to see if teachers will push back against this change and if they do, will TI reverse it?

EDIT: TI has confirmed that they will not be removing the charging LED on School Property (classroom sets) calculators. So teachers can still tell which calculators are charged in charging stations. This means it's highly unlikely non-school property calculators will ever get the LED back.

 

Here's a fun tidbit: If you want to know what hardware revision a calculator is, just look for the date code on the back. In engraved text, you'll see something like L-0519M. The last letter (M) is the hardware revision. Calculators with hardware revisions earlier than T will have a charging LED. hardware revision T and later will not have one.

 

Sources

https://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=263762

https://www.cemetech.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=295417

[Vanderburg]

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, Vanderburg said:

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

Then I must have gotten a deal at $100 on Amazon. 

[SorryBella]

25 minutes ago, Vanderburg said:

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

The bigger crime is US Education System inability to accomodate other scientific graphing calculator brands that are as capable as TI like Casio.

 

EDIT: Actually, scratch that. The biggest crime IS the US Education System itself. Instead of focusing on a by-and-large revisions of the curricullum that has been obviously outdated, the government in many states just have to fucking focus on the media bread and butter of student security. If we care about the student welfare in the first place, we do not need to threat our children with schools, and if the US on BOTH PARTIES can stop using education and research as latest scapegoats on a shoddily run projects (especially the last term president which i wont name), US Schools would less be a nightmare than before.

[Shreyas1]

2 minutes ago, Vanderburg said:

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

I still don't get why they're so expensive. Is it something to do with the economics of producing a specialized item or are they just scalping because they know you can't get anything else (given other calcs are banned on exams)?

[OhioYJ]

10 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

I still don't get why they're so expensive. Is it something to do with the economics of producing a specialized item or are they just scalping because they know you can't get anything else (given other calcs are banned on exams)?

 

They technically aren't banned. HP and Casio calculators are allowed, they are listed on approved lists for tests like the ACT and SATs.  However TI is pretty locked in for most schools, as it is strongly recommended for most classes, and shows up on supply lists for students. Teachers normally know how to use the TIs, but show up with a HP or Casio you're likely on your own. 

[whispous]

17 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

I still don't get why they're so expensive. Is it something to do with the economics of producing a specialized item or are they just scalping because they know you can't get anything else (given other calcs are banned on exams)?

Because people have to use them.

[commandblockguy]

It's because their customers, who are the teachers telling students which calculators to get, are not the ones actually paying for the calculators. TI spends a lot of time marketing to teachers and making sure that lesson plans and textbooks include instructions for TI calculators. Because the teachers are the ones deciding which calculators students will use, decreasing the price doesn't really increase the number of calculators sold, and so they've kept the price the same even as they've become several times cheaper to produce.

[TheLastMillennial]

You guys will love to know that the TI-84 Plus CE family only costs 75 Euro ($88 USD) in Europe where there's actually competition among calculator companies.

 

I updated the topic with news from TI that they will be keeping the charging LED on the school property versions so teachers won't be out of luck. However, regular TI-84 Plus CEs will require you to turn on the calculator to check the charge level.

[RoseLuck462]

The graphing calculators are rechargeable now?

 

And it's still the TI 84? Wow 

[bcredeur97]

2 hours ago, Vanderburg said:

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

Bought a 84+ CE in high school back when they like first came out, but used for $75. Just kept it all through college and such even still have it now although I never use it.

 

it had some scratches and stuff on it but who cares? Was my thoughts exactly 

[OhioYJ]

8 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

Bought a 84+ CE in high school back when they like first came out

 

I wonder if you just made anyone else feel old?

[Kadzo]

I am just curious, why do you need these specific calculators? For what subject?

Here in "Europe" you can get basically any calculator with complex math options and never have i had a need for a "graphing" calculator. You do you graphs based on the math you have provided. At least that`s how you should do it?

I finished engineering college with a basic one without graphing functions. 

[dizmo]

Boy am I glad I only needed a BA2 Plus. 

 

Really, though, I don't see this as something even worthy of a news article. It'll affect very, very few people. From the looks of it you just have to turn on the calculator and look at the battery percentage icon. Not a big deal. 

On 9/25/2021 at 5:36 PM, Shreyas1 said:

I still don't get why they're so expensive. Is it something to do with the economics of producing a specialized item or are they just scalping because they know you can't get anything else (given other calcs are banned on exams)?

You can't scalp a product you're producing... 

[DeScruff]

13 hours ago, Kadzo said:

I am just curious, why do you need these specific calculators? For what subject?

Here in "Europe" you can get basically any calculator with complex math options and never have i had a need for a "graphing" calculator. You do you graphs based on the math you have provided. At least that`s how you should do it?

I finished engineering college with a basic one without graphing functions. 

Back when I was in highschool the graphing calculators were shared between the Algebra, Trigonometry, and Physics classes. The first, just using them as just scientific calculators, the latter used for giving a visual representation of what Sin() Cos() Tan() exc did and could be used for weird questions like "at what X value is Y the same for these two equations: ..... " or something I can't fully remember, its been years.

While I think the visual aid helped? I honestly had a better understanding of the use of those functions (and a lot of things they tried to teach in these classes) by applying them to things I was making in Gamemaker at the time, like making a 'Worms' clone, when we were learning things like how gravity accelerates at a rate of 9.81m/s, or how perpendicular forces do not affect eachother (or how I described it X axis speed does not affect Y axis speed... Something that apparently a lot of students had a hard time wrapping their head arround)

That said I do remember some function on the calculator that let you draw lines/pixels and would sometimes doodle 1 bit sprites and leave messages for whoever would get the Calculator next.

[Kadzo]

7 hours ago, DeScruff said:

Back when I was in highschool the graphing calculators were shared between the Algebra, Trigonometry, and Physics classes. The first, just using them as just scientific calculators, the latter used for giving a visual representation of what Sin() Cos() Tan() exc did and could be used for weird questions like "at what X value is Y the same for these two equations: ..... " or something I can't fully remember, its been years.

While I think the visual aid helped? I honestly had a better understanding of the use of those functions (and a lot of things they tried to teach in these classes) by applying them to things I was making in Gamemaker at the time, like making a 'Worms' clone, when we were learning things like how gravity accelerates at a rate of 9.81m/s, or how perpendicular forces do not affect eachother (or how I described it X axis speed does not affect Y axis speed... Something that apparently a lot of students had a hard time wrapping their head arround)

That said I do remember some function on the calculator that let you draw lines/pixels and would sometimes doodle 1 bit sprites and leave messages for whoever would get the Calculator next.

Thank you for the explanation, maybe i am just to old school or our education system messed me to much, but for my trigonometry we weren't allowed to use calculators at all. One of the rare occasions when you were able to use it, was for static loads calculations or (i don`t know what is the English word for it) its a subject where you have to calculate what is the maximum load and deformation of a structural beam.

But for math or physics hell no. 

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, Kadzo said:

Thank you for the explanation, maybe i am just to old school or our education system messed me to much, but for my trigonometry we weren't allowed to use calculators at all. One of the rare occasions when you were able to use it, was for static loads calculations or (i don`t know what is the English word for it) its a subject where you have to calculate what is the maximum load and deformation of a structural beam.

But for math or physics hell no. 

Same. And I went to hs in both French and Italian system. University in Italy, electronic engineering course, there too no requirement for a graphing calculator, and could only use a scientific calculator during exams

[Kadzo]

4 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

Same. And I went to hs in both French and Italian system. University in Italy, electronic engineering course, there too no requirement for a graphing calculator, and could only use a scientific calculator during exams

Not to mention, that on these graphing calculators with a bit of cheeky magic you can place an entire cheat sheet on it. 

In my uni they event went next step by turning on cellphone signal jamming devices during exams weeks. 

 

And i cant even imagine in my student days having to have to pay for a calculator 150+ euros, hell i cant imagine it even today. 

[NumLock21]

Back then when I was in school, almost every single kid has that calculator, but I never had one. I wish I had one, but even if I did, I wouldn't even know how to properly use it. One has to know what to input to the calculator to get the answer they trying to seek. When garbage numbers get thrown in, then garbage answer spits out, and the answer to the math problem will still be wrong. So for me, during math class I had a Sharp scientific calculator, it was easy to use and get the job done. 

[williamcll]

ahahahaha I'm still on my Ti-84 Silver PE

[DeScruff]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:54 AM, Kadzo said:

Not to mention, that on these graphing calculators with a bit of cheeky magic you can place an entire cheat sheet on it. 

In my uni they event went next step by turning on cellphone signal jamming devices during exams weeks. 

 

And i cant even imagine in my student days having to have to pay for a calculator 150+ euros, hell i cant imagine it even today. 

Soo for the NY state Regents (big tests required for your highschool diploma) If you did bring your own calculator, the teacher had to examine it, and would factory reset it - or something it cleared out anything you had put on the thing. Of course most teachers wouldn't know how to do that on a Casio, HP, Sharp, or any other manufacturer so they would end up taking your calculator like your phone, and lending you a classroom one, despite those calculators being on the list of allowed calculators.
Which just caused issues for students who all year learned how to use a Casio, and are now learning mid test how to navigate a TI one.

Side note: Actually yeah when did TI calculators need rechargeable batteries? Those things are like Logitech mice, they last months on AAA batteries.
Though I guess its more convenient in a classroom vs having a Costco sized pack of AAA batteries in the classroom case.
 

[Dracarris]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:54 PM, Kadzo said:

Not to mention, that on these graphing calculators with a bit of cheeky magic you can place an entire cheat sheet on it. 

In my uni they event went next step by turning on cellphone signal jamming devices during exams weeks.

As soon as any of these jam signals leave the building they are in very bad legal waters, this is simply illegal. Most of these calculators have an exam mode with all cheat-worthy features disabled. That being said in properly designed math and science exams (on college/university level) no fancy calculator, no cheat sheet, hell even open-book mode will help you anything.

 

I bought and used this one during my university studies, but effectively it just looks fancy and doesn't help any more than a regular graphing or symbolic calculator.

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, Dracarris said:

I bought and used this one during my university studies, but effectively it just looks fancy and doesn't help any more than a regular graphing or symbolic calculator.

https://www.casio-intl.com/asia/en/calc/products/fx-570ESPLUS/

and this is what ive been carrying from middle school to università to work to it's in my backpack when offshore. the best 25€ ive ever spent

[guyish1]

On 9/25/2021 at 8:30 PM, Vanderburg said:

The biggest crime is paying $150 for these calculators.

its funny to think that you can get a Ti-99 for a lower price nowadays