DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments TI-1015
| Date of introduction: | 1980 | Display technology: | LCD |
| New price: | Display size: | 8 | |
| Size: | 5.5" x 2.9" x 0.7" 140 x 73 x 18 mm3 |
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| Weight: | 2.8 ounces, 79 grams | Serial No: | 3330659 |
| Batteries: | 2*AA | Date of manufacture: | wk 30 year 1980 |
| AC-Adapter: | Origin of manufacture: | Taiwan | |
| Precision: | 8 | Integrated circuits: | Toshiba T3870S |
| Memories: | 1 | ||
| Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner |
We
wrote the year 1980, when Texas Instruments discovered the lower labor costs of
Taiwan, R.O.C. compared to US or Europe. Till the early 80s most calculators from Texas
Instruments were produced either in US or Italy and some early LCD models like
the TI-1768 even in Japan.
This TI-1015 and its sibling TI-1020
marked an important milestones in contract manufacturing of Texas Instruments
calculators, within 2 years the TI-15,
TI-18, TI-21,
and TI-501
were introduced.
Compared with US-built calculators of that era, like the slimline model TI-1001, these first calculators assembled in Taiwan look and feel cheaper.
But these calculators were just the first movement of a major wave in outsourcing of manufacturing, ten years later advanced calculators like the TI-85 were assembled in Taiwan and the lower-end models either in Thailand or China. Since about 2002 all Texas Instruments calculators are manufactured in different plants in China.
The electronic inside the
TI-1015 is centered around a Toshiba T3870S single-chip calculator circuit. We
noticed near the right edge of the printed circuit board (PCB) a small label
"TI-1015-1" etched in the copper. A nice indicator that this TI-1015
isn't just a rebadged "Far East Generic Design" like e.g. this Bowmar
introduced in 1977.
Texas Instruments changed in 1981 the color of the housing of
both the TI-1015 and TI-1020
from brown to an off-white tone.
Already in 1982 some very stylish and thin calculators manufactured in Taiwan were introduced. The line covers the TI-1754 (credit card sized), TI-1755 (golden edition) and TI-1756. All three models got an audible instead of a tactile feedback of the entries.
Comment:
Between December 2001 and March 2010 the Date of Introduction of the TI-1015 and
TI-1020 was listed on this webpage with 1982. We received this TI-1015 early in
2010 and had to correct it to 1980.
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, December 5, 2001. No reprints without written permission.