-----I am not what you would call a "math geek." I never got into math in high school, and as such, I didn't get into the graphing calculator scene, as it were. My first calculator was the Casio fx-7400G PLUS that my parents got me about 6 years ago. They purchased it for me because I wanted one, and I wanted one because I saw a friend programming a small computer game on his TI-83 which I thought was nifty as all get-out. They bought one for me, and on my shelf it sat until I went back to school and placed into an Algebra II class (surprised me - I never took one of those before). I intend on taking as many different science courses as I can, and as many math courses as I can humanly get through before I start leaking funny math symbols out my ears. And so what I need is a new graphing calculator.
-----Unlike in high school, this time I've done my homework. I can quote you processor names and speeds, model numbers, RAM/ROM size, special features and the like of HP's calculators, Casio's, and TI's. I have a firm grasp of the hardware capabilities of each manufacturer, and I feel that trying to distinguish between the best calculator of the three based solely on hardware spec's alone is like debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. What it comes down to is what applications each machine is good for. Which is where your input, professional and student alike, becomes important.
-----I feel like Texas Instruments' best calculator for what I need right now is the TI-NSPIRE. Hardware-wise, it's a thing of real beauty, comparable in processor speed and ram-size to what a pc could do 11 or 12 years ago. But I don't know how it would be with programming, I'm sort of partial to Casio's Icon Interface, and I think if I got into much mechanical or electrical engineering, I'd need a TI-89 Titanium at some point, which would make the TI-NSpire seem like a waste. Not so with the HP 50G.
-----The HP 50G has a nifty little SD Card slot which makes me giddy with thoughts of elaborate programming enterprises that more than fill a couple gigabytes of space. It has 2300 built-in thingamajiggies that their website assures will all but make you coffee, and if you hook up an infrared output on the calc and an input on the coffee-maker, maybe that's not so far away. But I hear hp's are worse about their layout and stuff than TI is, which makes me cling to Casio.
-----Which brings us back to dear old Casio. I'm thinking the Classpad 330 is the best of the bunch. It has a 500KB ram size which competes with every other major calc that I was able to find hardware spec's for except for the TI-Nspire, which has a 16 MB ram size and in the neighborhood of 150 Mhtz processor speed. That could be ignored for all those nifty icons I cherish so dearly. It seems like it'll do differential equations and whatnot and maybe it'll help in some engineering classes, but I'm not sure. May still get stuck needing a more technically minded calculator for whatever field I fall into when I'm done with school. I found the little programming support here for casio, so maybe I might pick up some programming tips, and the USB cable assures that I can make bigger programs even if this thing doesn't come with the SD Card like the SD model 9860 I believe.
-----Again, just tell me what you think about the software of each of these calculators, if you would be so kind. After a month-long search and gnawing on it, I'm starting to think the best and cheapest calculator may be pencil, graph and scratch paper. But I'd still like a small, pocketable device unlike my PC and laptop to brush up on computer programming and not be lugged down with equipment I can't fit into my locker at work. And maybe I'll be able to give some poor calculator a decent home.
Edited by Mathopotamus, 09 February 2010 - 12:15 PM.
