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Texas Instruments TI-84 PLUS Silver Edition (Wal-Mart)

Date of introduction:	July 2010	Display technology:	LCD dot matrix
New price:	Wal-Mart: $90.00	Display size:	8 * 16 characters
Size:	7.5" x 3.3" x 0.85" 190 x 84 x 22 mm³
Weight:	7.4 ounces, 208 grams	Serial No:
Batteries:	4*AAA + SR44 (35mA)	Date of manufacture:	mth 12 year 2009 (M)
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	China (P)
Precision:	14	Integrated circuits:	ASIC: TI REF 84PLCR/TA1 Flash: S29AL016D Display: Toshiba T6K04
Memories:
Program steps:	24k Bytes, 1.5M Bytes Flash ROM	Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

This colorful TI-84 Plus Silver Edition was introduced for the Back-to-School 2010 campaign by Wal-Mart, the largest grocery retailer in the United States together with its pink and blue siblings and the TI-30X IIS in matching colors of pink, blue and green.

In 2010 Texas Instruments sold on its website faceplates in 15 different colors: Black, brown, dark red, red, pink, purple, dark blue, blue, light blue, green, gold, orange, bright orange, grey and white. Except bright orange were matching slide cases available, too. One special “Data Collection” snap-on faceplate highlights the keys and functions of the Vernier EasyData™ application.

Comparing this TI-84 Plus Silver Edition manufactured in December 2009 (Revision Code M) by Inventec (Pudong) Corporation with an early product assembled in 2007 (Revision Code G) reveals only few differences. The design sports still 3 chips on one printed circuit board (PCB):

• TI REF 84PLCR/TA1: Z80 microprocessor, RAM, USB-Port
and supporting logic
• Spansion S29AL016D: 2M Bytes Flash ROM
• Toshiba T6K04: Single-chip 64*120 pixel display driver

The picture on the right gives an enhanced view of the ASIC that clocks the Z80 microprocessor with 15 MHz and incorporates the RAM, USB-Port and logic. Learn more about the Hardware Architecture of TI’s Graphing Calculators.

A component not easily detected on the printed circuit board (PCB) of the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition is the driver circuit of the LC-Display. It is just a bare chip mounted on a flexible piece of circuit board attached between the display and the main PCB.

The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition supports the ViewScreen panel and the TI-Presenter with an Presentation Link Adapter. A serial port of the calculators allows the connection to the Calculator-Based Laboratory system CBL, its successor CBL 2 and the Calculator-Based Ranger CBR. The added USB interface of the TI-84 Plus family calculators connects directly with the Calculator-Based Ranger CBR 2 introduced in 2004. With a new cradle even the optional full-sized QWERTY Keyboard introduced in 2002 matches with the TI-84 Plus series.

Texas Instruments announced on March 1^st, 2010 the TI-84 Plus Operating System version 2.53MP with MathPrint™ mode for free download. The OS 2.53MP enables users to input and view math symbols and formulas, including stacked fractions, in their handhelds exactly as the equations appear in textbooks.

ROM-Versions:

2.43 (December 4, 2007)
2.53MP (February 15, 2010 includes MathPrint)
2.55MP (January 15, 2011)

You can check the ROM version of your TI-84 Plus S.E. using the following key sequence and reading the number on your screen:

[2nd] [MEM] [1]

Information provided by ticalc.org and Xavier Andréani.

Exam acceptance:

The TI-84 Plus S.E. is permitted (as of August 10, 2010) for use on SAT, ACT, PSAT and AP exams.

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.