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Ti-nspire Cas Graphing Calc | 
| Brand: Texas Instruments
List Price: $170.99
Buy New: $143.85
You Save: $27.14 (16%)
New (20) from $143.85
Rating:  20 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 6.3 x 2
MPN: NSCAS/PWB/1L1
Model: NSCAS/PWB/1L1
UPC: 033317200665
EAN: 0033317190683
ASIN: B000QSX9EK
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Functions: Built-in CAS (Computer Algebra System)Handheld | | • | Power Source: Battery |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The TI-Nspire CAS handheld and computer software has all the functionality of TI-Nspire technology plus built-in CAS (Computer Algebra System) capabilities. Explore, evaluate and simplify expressions, numeric problems and variables symbolically. Experience all the functionality of TI-Nspire technology plus built-in CAS capabilities, which provides the ability to explore, evaluate and simplify expressions, numeric problems and variables symbolically. The TI-Nspire CAS handheld does not include the snap-in TI-84 Plus Keypad, which is compatible exclusively with the TI-Nspire handheld. White box.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 The Best Graphing Calculator + October 30, 2007
S. Bird (Indianapolis, IN USA)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
I've been teaching for over 10 years and have used the TI-82,83,84, and 89 in my math and science classrooms. Finally, there is an upgradable learning tool that has better resolution and dynamic linking capabilities that is perfect for every high school (and beyond) math class, INCLUDING geometry. I could go on for some time about all the things that I like about it, but space doesn't allow. Clearly, the first and possibly favorite feature students will notice is that the input actually looks like the mathematics in the textbook. It has "pretty print" on the input as well as the announcement. "Parentheses errors" will become a thing of the past; no more getting the wrong answer because you entered it in wrong.
 PATHETIC documentation for a possibly great product February 1, 2008
iffish (USA)
24 out of 39 found this review helpful
My two stars rating is based entirely on my frustration at the pathetic documentation which comes with this potentially revolutionary and definitely non-intuitive product. I'm trying to figure out how I can possibly get up to speed so I can use this for my trigonometry homework that is due in a few days and a test in about a week; I'm not feeling hopeful.
I just got my ti-nspire CAS and I thought I'd read the documentation, since the paradigm is quite different from traditional calculators and navigation of the product is far from obvious.
While this may be a revolutionary advance in calculators (as it is more a smart, math notebook than a mere calculator and I can imagine it might elevate math to a new plateau if successful), WHERE IS THE COMPREHENSIVE TUTORIAL AND WELL ORGANIZED/INDEXED DOCUMENTATION YOU'D EXPECT FROM A PRODUCT THIS COMPLEX, INNOVATIVE, AND BOTH LONG AND EXPENSIVE IN DEVELOPMENT?
The manual is practically useless as it launches into arcane aspects of the machine seemingly ASSUMING you've been using something like this all your life. The unit comes with a CD-Rom, so I next turned to that for help.
There are a handful of very short and very shallow tutorial video clips, and there is an on-disk guidebook - which turns out to be nothing but the pathetically inadequate 126 paper handbook presented all over again. What is wrong with the decision makers at TI? Are they math smart but utterly devoid of common sense??
WOULD IT REALLY BE TOO MUCH TO ASK, OR WOULD IT HAVE BLOWN THE BUDGET, FOR TI TO HAVE COMMISSIONED A ONE HOUR DVD-ROM GENTLE AND COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION TO THIS REVOLUTIONARY MACHINE? Wouldn't common sense and their own best interests have suggested such a thing? Wouldn't that likely have increased sales by word of mouth recommendations from early adopters ... instead of encouraging poor reviews? Wouldn't that decision, that investment, in thorough documentation have paid off probably a thousand fold in new sales? Did absolutely nobody involved in the project have any common sense or was this purely a penny wise but dollar stupid decision on the part of upper management? Or maybe T.I. thought this was all a good joke - play "hide the cheese" with consumers?
I have a feeling I may eventually learn to love this machine but, clearly, I am going to have to go through a lot of pain and wasted hours first.
SHAME ON TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. SHAME. SHAME. SHAME. SHAME. I'm really angry when I would much rather be excited.
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As I said, I just got my calculator and I am writing this after only two to three hours of trying to make some sense of the myriad keys and the dramatically new paradigm ... with, effectively, no help from Texas Instruments.
I CONFESS I tend to be particularly harsh on products which hold aspects of potential greatness but appear to have been ineptly documented or finished with deep, obvious, flaws still showing. I HATE having my time wasted for lack of something so relatively simple as decent documentation. This seems to be such a case.
As I figure out how to use this thing, assuming I do before I give up in disgust and go back to my old calculator, I will attempt to update my review with more details and, maybe, a few hints on lessons learned the hard way. Maybe I'll bump my score. However, I have to say, TI could earn a lot of brownie points from me, and garner better reviews, if they would rush out with an apology and an adequate introductory documentation system so we don't HAVE to learn everything the hard way! I suggest (although I shouldn't have to suggest):
(1) a 1-2 hour guided introduction to the paradigm, buttons, and hidden features on DVD ROM. This could probably be completed in a month or so if they made up their minds - I don't care about perfect presentation on camera; anything would be better than the near nothing we have at this point.
(2) a cross referenced and easily searchable index of all the text documentation which is on the CD (you can search the pdf via adobe but I would like to see something more friendly).
Once again, TI, you are showing why you have - too many times in the past - been an early leader but an ultimate "also ran" in many consumer marketed products. Yes, I know you dominate the engineering calculator market at this point, having taken that lead from HP, but this is not how you keep your lead. It seems obvious to me that this product was intended to address, among other things, the complexity of earlier models. And you should know, from reading reviews of earlier advanced models, that you've been heavily criticized for grossly inadequate documentation. So the lack of adequate documentation is, to my mind, particularly inexcusable.
 Great Potential - Needs Work April 26, 2008
M. Atherton
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
I've been working with this calculator for more than two months. My advice? Wait! Wait for updates and upgrades. First, I have to agree with another reviewer who was so angry with the documentation: it's awful. Harks back to the early 1980s when the only way to know what a computer could do was to try it. Trying to figure out how to do even the simplest of operations sometimes required an hour's worth of searching, at times with no resolution. The most helpful thing I've done so far is to print out the entire function manual and read through it page by page, but even this won't help you with specific button operations. Also, if I call technical support and they say they'll have to call me back, I expect to be called back. I don't expect to never hear from them again. Very, very annoying. Lacks class and corporate integrity.
I'm also unhappy with the screen. Although it has excellent resolution, it is very difficult to see unless the ambient light is bright, if not you have to tilt it at just the right angle to see anything. I don't know if it's technologically possible, but backlighting might help significantly. Also, they might want to work on providing 3D graphics.
There are also some operating system tweaks they need to make. For example, in the calculator mode Tab key will move you to the next part of the expression, but in graphing mode it appears to function the same as the Enter key and prematurely enters the expression.
There is also an operating system bug. It appears that if you "grab" something and you allow the calculator to auto power down it locks up. Doing a "soft reset" by pressing the button on the back will not unlock the system. You have to do a "hard reset" by removing a battery.
So what do I like? Almost everything else. I love the wysiwyg interface! It's as if you could actually do calculations with the MS equation editor. I haven't had a problem using the buttons. Also, the calculator is incredible powerful, there are a huge range of functions and operations. Final word: wait for them to solve the problems I've outlined above and then buy one.
 I'm not sure TI has a winner here. November 4, 2007
J. Bender (Saginaw, MI)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I like the larger, higher resolution screen, but I'm not sure that this is a great advance over my old favorite, the TI 89. Will the whole idea of using files and folders on a calculator catch on? Maybe, especially if programming is well-supported, the calculator could be a great tool for getting younger people interested in computer programming. I wish they had included something like an SD slot for memory cards, but perhaps they had good reason for excluding it. I have had no mechanical problems so far, but it's too soon to comment on reliability.
good and bad November 19, 2007
Da BrandoChipper
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
There are a few features on this calculator that are improvements on earlier models. I find the statistical functions, especially regressions and distributions, and the calculus functions to be far more intuitive. You do not have to remember all the parameters needed to use these functions. The menus are very easy to understand and I do not find myself running to an inadequate help manual as I did on earlier calculators.
The higher resolution and bigger screen give a much nicer presentation. Problems are entered and solved in text almost exactly as you would see in a book. Graphs also look more accurate and detailed.
On to the negatives.First....THE BUTTONS!! The letter keys are small green keys nestled among the number and function keys. Hence you are constantly hitting the letter keys by accident and so you have to waste time correcting typing errors.
Another huge negative for me is the awkward nature of the graphing screen when finding roots, max/min points, and points of intersection. To find roots as well as max/min points you have to trace along the graph and when the tracer arrives at the point it provides the coordinates on the screen. However, the coordinates are often conflicting with the same space as the graph itself and hence you cant read the point. So you have to grab the coordinates and drag them to a spot on the graph where you can see it. And if you happen to trace past the point too quickly, the coordinates disappear and you have to trace back again. The same procedure applies to max/min points. Finding graph information with the TI84 and TI89 is far easier and quicker.
Overall a decent calculator if youre willing to deal with some up front frustration. But I will always prefer my 89 over this version of the Nspire. Perhaps later models will address these issues. But for now...buy the 89.
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