TI hasn't finished surprising us with with his latest models in the TI-z80 family, after years of development which seemed to focus only on the TI-Nspire family.

After the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition which replaces the old TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, it's now the turn of the TI-83 Plus.

In France, here is the new TI-83 Plus.fr for back to school 2013:

The TI-83 Plus.fr moves to a TI-84 Plus case, but keeps the french keys.

Do you think that it's just a cosmetic change like when the TI-73 Explorer moved from a TI-83 Plus case to a TI-84 Plus case in 2009 without any change to the hardware specifications?



Well... This time it seems to be more than that.
Have a better look at the TI-83 Plus.fr image above...
Did you notice? You've got MathPrint!

So a new TI-83 Plus OS in perspective?

Or is it just TI-84 hardware with a 2.53/2.55MP OS put in a case labeled TI-83 Plus?
When we think back to the current TI-82 Stats which include TI-83 Plus hardware, it wouldn't be so surprising...



What is sure, is that like they did with the TI-73 Explorer, TI will have to design a new PCB in order to move the mini-Jack I/O port from the bottom to the top.



Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=11214&p=135350&lang=en

Like it happened with the TI-73 Explorer, TI will have to design a new PCB in order to move the mini-Jack I/O port from the bottom to the top.

So indeed, they can switch the RAM/ROM chips by the same time.

Interesting, but I hope that it doesn't break compatibility with old apps or something. Also the look seems pretty similar to the 84 Plus C Silver Edition in overall. I am surprised for a France release because of how inconsistent it is with the TI-84 Pocket.Fr. I would have thought we would see a TI-83 Plus Pocket.Fr or something.

Also I am surprised by this color scheme because I would have expected the calc to have similar colors as the TI-83 Plus like this (fake image):



Anyway I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually a TI-84 Plus in disguise (like how the TI-82 Stats is a TI-83 in disguise), but then it wouldn't make much sense as the TI-84 Pocket.Fr was released 1 or 2 years ago. Unless the latter had terrible sales and TI is discontinuing it already?

I think the issue is that the TI-84 Plus is way too expensive and several of their customers just can't afford it. When most people earn between $8000 and $15000 in yearly income, I think you can have a clue about which calc would those people choose between the $115-145 TI-83 Plus and the $170 TI-84 Plus (after the 15.03% sales taxes). It is even worse now with skyrocketing food prices.

But if that was the case, then wouldn't they discontinue the TI-84 Pocket.Fr and TI-82 Stats.Fr too?

Also



That's gonna get confusing

Why does TI continue to perpetuate this awful case design! 

I hate it!

My favorite is the TI-86. Until a few years ago, it was the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, but I discovered that after a few years, it becomes a TI-83 Plus Gold Edition, in the same fashion as some SNES consoles and old computers:


TI-83 Plus Silver Edition par Victorrochajr, sur Flickr



My 83+Silver Edition is just ugly, now >.<

My favorite is the TI-86. Until a few years ago, it was the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, but I discovered that after a few years, it becomes a TI-83 Plus Gold Edition, in the same fashion as some SNES consoles and old computers:

...

My 83+Silver Edition is just ugly, now >.<

LOL... The headlights on my Honda Accord are doing the same thing. I must agree... TI-86 has a very nice case. T'would be nice to bring back the TI-86 with some flash memory.