Ok what now? http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=4114

After the TI-83 Premium CE (the French TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition), here comes that thing you see above: The TI-84 Plus CE!


According to the TI-Planet news at http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=173467#p173467 it seems that the calc feels very fast. I wonder if this could be TI's response to the complains about the slow TI-84 Plus CSE processor? A much faster CSE would definitively be nice, providing that ASM programs are cross-compatible, not locked down (the fact this calc case looks a bit like a TI-Nspire CX worries me a bit) and that the calc doesn't only come out in France.

That would be so nice if its faster... I wonder if we could interchange parts with the regular color calc to speed it up (assuming the parts are similar enough, that case concerns me).

Wow, this is... interesting. I also think the redesign looks really nice! The z80 series could use an update. I too am curious about the speed and what's inside though. Maybe a better screen or some sort of graphic processor?

I am not really happy with the design, it looks quite cheap IMO. At least if that runs faster than a classic 84 or a CSE, that would a plus.

I don't like the new design, and as a few others have said, I hope it isn't locked down like the nspire.

I rather hope it's just a TI-84+CSE in a new case, possibly with only 2 MB of flash. It would be neat if they bumped the CPU speed up to 25 MHz---I'd have to buy one. But that would require them to use a much more accurate CPU oscillator. (The old spec for the TI-83+SE was +/-20 %, so 20 MHz + 20 % would put it over the 22 MHz speed limit some overclocked units have seen.) An eZ80 seems unlikely due to the need to license a new CPU core. I look forward to learning more about this.

I personally like the new case design. I was never a fan of the curved rows of keys.

If they used a stock eZ80 that would be fine, but yeah I guess TI wants to use their own parts to keep the cost low.

That would add an extra chip, and would cost $5 (20 MHz) to $10 (50 MHz) per CPU. It's just far too expensive. The current design has the following digital ICs:
 - A custom ASIC, containing CPU, RAM, USB, bus, glue logic, charge pump for USB host mode, and lots of miscellaneous support logic. Probably < $3.
 - Flash chip, for firmware storage. Can't be integrated into the ASIC without changing the manufacturing process, but doing so would vastly increase ASIC size, and lower yield. A 4 MB chip is about $2.
 - LCD driver, which can't be integrated into the ASIC due to the high pin count the raw LCD requires. Less than $2.
 - Battery charge controller, which could be integrated into the ASIC at the cost of several extra pins due to the high power handling requirement. Costs less than $1, especially since it's TI's own chip.
 - Back light dimmer, which has the same objection to ASIC integration. Costs less than $1.

You're suggesting that TI literally double the manufacturing cost of the calculator.

You don't pay for just the cpu frequency.