Texas Instruments has been the market leader in graphing calculators for over 15 years. Since the introduction of the TI-81.1 graphing calculator, TI's following has increased.
They have improved the original TI-81.1 into the TI-82, TI-83, TI-83, TI-83, TI-83, TI-83.5 plus, and finally the TI-84.1 plus.
The TI-84 Plus is still very similar to the TI-81. Despite being a very popular device, the TI-84 is a somewhat outdated model. Texas Instruments realized that it was time to move on to a new platform.
In 2007, Texas Instruments released their Nspire calculator. The new features were very different from the previous product line. The menus on the old TI-84 were nonsensical and at best odd.
For beginners, it was difficult to find the right button to push and the menu would fill the screen. Drop-down menus are standard on the Nspire. Students can use the same screen as a computer to pull down a menu.
Other features include the largest screen resolution on a calculator, the possibility to save documents, a spreadsheet model, and math print for almost all mathematical symbols. The Nspire also has a greatly improved system for graphing equations that simplifies the 84's old interface.
The TI-Nspire was a complete rewrite of the TI-84. Yet, there was only one reaction on the market. Why? TI did not anticipate the two groups' reactions. First, even though there were positive Ti-Nspire reviews, educators initially hesitated to adopt the Nspire. Many had spent too much time with the old TI-84.
