By Tech Powered Dad | November 16, 2010
Please click here to get your TI-84 Plus on Amazon.
UPDATE (11/16/10) TI-84+ SE not discontinued in North America
As promised, I am continuing to update the original story below. Today, I received an email from Dale Philbrick, marketing manager for mathematics at Texas Instruments. Mr. Philbrick says that the internet rumors of the demise of the TI-84+ Silver Edition are unfounded and that Texas Instruments has no plans to discontinue the Silver Edition in North America at this time.
I am happy to pass this information along to TPM readers. The TI-84+ still has a huge following, and its fans will certainly be relieved to hear that Texas Instruments is still solidly behind the platform.
Original story from October 1, 2010 follows:
If what I’m hearing is correct, an era is over. Word on the street is that Texas Instruments has discontinued their amazingly popular TI-84 plus. Apparently, the TI-Germany and TI-Swiss sites now have the TI-84 listed as a discontinued model. Nothing official on the North American site, but you have to figure it’s soon to follow.
Even though Texas Instruments has obviously been pushing hard for several years with their new TI-Nspire model, the move to discontinue the TI-84 is still a bit of a shock. Just this spring, TI releases a massive upgrade to the TI-84 operating system that made it vastly easier for teachers and students to use.
The TI-84 has been iconic. It’s basically just an upgraded version of the TI-83. The TI-83⁄84 platform cemented Texas Instruments status as the king of graphing calculators. A TI-83 or TI-84 poster hangs on the walls of countless thousands of math classrooms throughout North America (and the world).
My feel is that the educational community was more or less ready to move on from the TI-84. The TI-Nspire is a far better device from a standpoint of teaching and learning. It’s got more powerful features, it’s easier to use, and the display doesn’t make you feel like you’re using an Apple IIe.
On the other hand, a certain segment of “calculator purists” will not like it one bit. The TI-84 platform has a huge cult following among programmers. Those loyal hackers have more than a decade of experience built up on the TI-83⁄84 platform, and the TI-Nspire is not nearly as friendly to programmers.
To the TI-84+ SE, I bid a fond farewell. I do believe your time had come, but millions of students around the globe will remember you fondly when they think of discovering the joy that can come with using technology to learn math.
I’ll continue to update this article as news comes out. The TI-84+ SE is still available on Amazon, but the question is, for how long?