Laia's new calculator - TI 84 Plus CE... and my old HP 48GX
So, Laia is going into 8th grade next year, believe it or not. She needs a new calculator, and asked for TI-84 Plus CE which seems nice. Made me think of my HP 48GX, I loved this device which was probably my "first computer". Was incredibly powerful, I got it to play music and video games! If I tried hard enough I believe I can still find it in my basement, and I bet still works fine. They were built like a tank.
In fact, just for fun I asked ChatGPT to compare them:
TI-84 Plus CE:
- Modern UI and color display.
- Fast, responsive, great for high school/college curriculum.
- Easier to use and widely supported (especially for standardized tests).
- Rechargeable and lightweight.
HP 48GX:
- Extremely powerful for its time, with programmable stack-based RPL.
- Expandable via memory cards — rare for calculators.
- Cult following among engineers for symbolic math and system control.
- Complex, but powerful if mastered.
