Yeah, my post about the Nspire got ignored there, even though it was defending both the Prizm and the CX (CAS or not).

Well, I'd say that it depends on what you want to do with your calc
-If you want to play the best games, buy a CX (CAS or not) since it has a GBA emulator.
-If you want to use your calc for maths, buy a CX CAS for... well the CAS
-If you want to code on it, well here is the problem, because as you know, the Nspire is closed while the Prizm isn't. So it is your choice here, wether about openness or power

Also, welcome to the forums Dapianokid, you can introduce yourself here

And The LUA, which isn't something that should not be mentioned. Great language from what I hear.
I don't know about the topic over at Cemetech, but did anyone perhaps link you to my article about the differences between these 2 calcs?

Hmm. Of what I've seen the Nspire is actually way above the PRIZM. I think TI therefore released the TI-84+ Color to compete with the PRIZM, instead of the Nspire, which is "way out of it's liege"

Excuse me, but for some reason I've gotten some biased feeling towards the PRIZM, since "they"(some prizm fans) *try* to make it seem so much better than the Nspire, but it's actually the only other color calc they could run to to "boycott" TI because they didn't like some features. And it always seems like they try to minimize the power of LUA too.

Here's the article, which is not biased by the way(): http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=87

Thanks, Hayleia. Turns out I registered with my email a while ago, and will forever be open to spamming now because it is exposed. Oh well.
The Nspire has Ndless, doesn't it?

We can always change it

And yeah the Nspire wins hands down, except for a fact: unlike the Prizm, it's closed and you have to jailbreak it à la iPod/iPhone so you can run third-party C or ASM and it breaks nearly each time TI releases a new major version of the OS. Oh, and the Prizm is cheaper.

Personally, I own a Casio Prizm, it's pretty fun to program, but if you need a calc for math, I guess you might want a CAS like the one on the Nspire CX or the Casio Classpad.

Actually, I think the whole Nspire vs. Prizm fight is pretty much unbalanced. The Prizm is more a competitor of the TI-84+CSE (they're both color screen evolutions of respectively the fx-9860 and the TI-84+, but since the Prizm came first way before the TI-84+CSE was announced, we compared it to the Nspire) while the Nspire is more a competitor to the Casio Classpad (they both have a CAS, if I'm not wrong).

I was hoping for this whole debate/discussion to take off between you experts soI can decide. Keep it up!

If the OS is upgraded in the nSpire, am I suddenly going to have to update corresponding C or LUA programs? Because I don't wanna have to consider my stuff obsolete!
The Prizm may be where I should go, but in all honesty, I want an nSpire because more has been written for it, there is a ti calculator (other than the built in one) emulator well under way which I hope will have a throttle setting, and a GBC emu. The Prizm is cheaper, but if I get a lot of birthday money, and buy a Prizm, I won't have anything to spend leftovers on, and my father will definitely lose track of the savings before the next year comes and I can buy one. I plan on getting a CAS and then a CSE next year. If they come out with a ti84+/GBC emu for the Prizm, I'll bite my tongue and wish I had bought it.

Is nDless a difficult process?

I have already posted a topic at Cemetech that helped me get my head around the pros and cons between the 84+CSE, and the Casio Prizm. However, my third option, the Nspire CX CAS, isn't an accepted calculator among the members of that community. Which one, the Prizm or CX CAS, to a programmer new to C, math student in Alg 2 and Pre-Calc, and a teenage calculator game enthusiast, would you guys suggest? Expert and experienced feedback appreciated!

Haha you should actually read the Anti-CX topic from 2011 there, you will probably see why . Actually they have a point, considering what TI did to us back then, but on a more neutral point of view, here are the pros and cons of the Nspire CX and PRIZM, and I'm gonna add the 84+CSE to the mix

PRIZM pros: Completely open to 3rd-party dev, has a BASIC language that is at least viable for homescreen games, cheaper
Cons: Smaller userbase due to TI's monopoly, slower CPU than the CX (basically, Doom will lag a bit even at max speed), lower RAM

Nspire CX pros: Much faster (up to 240 MHz), much more memory and the LCD protector doesn't get scratched as much with the time
Cons: Locked down (need to downgrade to OS 3.1 in order to play ASM games), lacks a decent BASIC language (Lua doesn't count), expensive and a major PITA to send programs to. Interface also not very user-friendly if you prefer standard calc interfaces.

84+CSE: Some compatibility with the 84+SE, has the biggest popularity potential due to the popularity of the 84+ line, and features BASIC drawing commands that are much faster than the PRIZM
Cons: 15 MHz processor and 21 KB of user RAM (128K for ASM coders), meaning that updating the entire LCD at once is 4 frames per second max, requiring special programming tricks such as using Z-adress or weird shortcuts like back in the NES days. Programming large programs on it might be annoying until third-party alternatives such as Doors CS8 instant Goto arrive.


If you're an hardcore BASIC programmer, I would say go for the PRIZM or 84+CSE. If you love to push outdated platforms to their limits and are a fan of old school consoles, go for the 84+CSE. If you want the most powerful platform that isn't locked down, go for the PRIZM. If you want the most powerful platform, at the cost of being forced to hack it in order to run ASM, go for the Nspire CX.

PRIZM: $129.99 61 KB user RAM (2 MB total), 16 MB Flash, 94.3 MHz max, BASIC/ASM/C/Lua
84+CSE: $129.99 21 KB user RAM (128 MB user), 3 MB Flash, 15 MHz max, BASIC/ASM (and eventually Grammer)
Nspire CX: $159.99 100 MB RAM, 64 MB Flash, 230-252 MHz max, ASM/C/Lua (major hassle to program)