Re: ti-86 vs. ti-89
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Re: ti-86 vs. ti-89
>I know i'll get flamed for this, but I'm debating wether to upgrade my
>ti86($110) to a ti89($145) or an HP-48G($90)
>A 48G is cheaper than a ti86, it has built in symbolic derivative and
>integrals. It also has about 30KB of formulas preprogrammed in. Besides, the
>HP 48-G processor is faster than the 89 processor
<disclaimer>
Being a die-hard HP user, I'll try my hardest to be unbiased here.
With that said, I would say to wait until the summer to decide (if you have
that choice). HP has (almost) announced the release in France of a new HP
graphic calculator in August. Being an American company, one would assume that
the new calculator will be released in the US sometime in July or maybe even
June. If possible, you could wait until then and buy the new HP calculator
<enter bias> which is sure to be better than the TI-89 or TI-92 considering it
took TI 12 years to catch up to the HP48 (which has remained practically
unaltered since 1986) <ok, done with bias for the moment>
Now, about the HP48. You don't want an HP48G. If anything, buy a G+, or
really, a GX. Or you could buy a G with an internal memory enhancement from
Cynox (www.cynox.de), an inexpensive German provider of quality HP memory stuff
(cards/internal upgrades). For about $155 (american) or 290 DM (deutsch marks)
you can get a HP48G with an internal memory upgrade to 1.2 mb (which is a great
amount)
The reason I say that you do not want a G is because with only 32k of ram, you
will not be able to run the good algebra libraries (take a look at the
mathematics/symbolic libraries at www.hpcalc.org to see what I mean. Erable,
the best, is a MINIMUM of 90k or so)
Ok. Now. If you have to buy a calculator now (like for exams or something
important) , I would have to tell you to buy the TI-89. It's capabilities will
be far more useful to you (integration, the bane of all C.A.S., is done better
on the TI-89. I have done contests. Trigonometric integrations are done
better on the TI-89 because the primary integration method is a table, rather
than Erable's partial implementation of the Risch Algorithm) Also, if you have
to have the calculator now, you won't have as steep a learning curve with the
TI-89 as you would with the HP48.
And, as a final minor correction, the HP48 is not faster than the TI-89. The
processor that runs the TI-89 is (I believe) 10mhz. The processor in the HP48
is only 4mhz. Some processes are streamlined on the HP and therefore perform
better than the TI-89 <enter more bias> primarily because the people who
programmed the HP I guess cared more <exit bias>
Anyway, good luck in your calculator buying. Just to reiterate what I said
earlier, your best bet IMHO is to wait and see what marvelous wonder HP will
release this summer.
Jeremy
P.S. I just made the conversion from TI to HP about a year and half ago. Once
you turn, you'll never go back :-)
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