【Jelena Jensen Archives】

Source：Inspiration Information Network Editor：Digital Culture Time：2025-06-26 17:41:36

Anyone who's been through a high-school algebra class surely remembers using a TI graphing calculator.

But who had a calculator likethis one?Jelena Jensen Archives

Apple started the trend with the rose gold iPhone, and now you'll be the coolest kid in class with the new rose gold color option for the TI-84 Plus CE. (Note: It's more of a light pink color.)

The timing is pretty perfect, with students starting back-to-school shopping soon. Amazon and OfficeDepot offer the rose gold model for $119.99. I remember paying $149.99 for my TI, and it was not rose gold.

SEE ALSO: 9 things you absolutely do not need to bring to college

This sleek new color will certainly make more of a statement than the classic black, blue, or gray options.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

There's more. Texas Instruments has updated the TI-84 from the days of a grayscale display. The calculator now features a 2.8-inch full-color backlit display with a 320 X 240 resolution. It also packs in 154KB of RAM and 3MB of ROM, for a faster experience. The design is slimmer at 0.8 inches; the calculator weighs in at 14.1-ounces. It's got a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a USB-cable instead of a pair of AA batteries.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

There are still plenty of pre-loaded education-centric applications, like CellSheet, MathPrint, and Cabri Jr. And of course it can handle addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division, along with intense graphs and quadratic formulas. But in the same way you can play games on your iPhone or Android, you can also game on this graphing calculator.

Games can easily be ported and installed by plugging the TI-84 into a Mac or PC with the included USB cable. A quick Google search provides a bunch of websites that store the game files. The list is long: Pac-Man, Mario 2.0, Tetris, Connect 4, even Roller Coaster Tycoon— and more. Many of these are designed for the gray-scale model but should still run on the Ti-84.

Granted, these games are not endorsed by the original creators and have different controls (although I'm sure someone could figure out how to hook up a gaming controller to one of these calculators). In fact, it's running a proprietary version 5.4 operating system that will likely make future applications easy to bring over.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

At the end of the day, the TI-84 still stands as a trusted companion for any algebra, geometry, calculus, and even physics class. It's even permitted for the SAT and ACT.

My blue and gray TI calculator was good. But had I had slightly more RAM, a rechargeable battery, and this epic new color, I would have been geeking out in high school. It's time for smartphones to move over. Calculators are cool again.

Featured Video For You

To learn to juggle, this AI-powered hand had to accumulate 100 years’ worth of experience

Previous：Patched Desktop PC: Meltdown & Spectre Benchmarked

Next：One of Android's Easter Eggs is a Flappy Bird

【Jelena Jensen Archives】

Related Articles

Related Recommendations

Categories

Latest Articles

Popular Articles

Hot Recommendations

Featured Column

Quick Links

Quick Links