TI just teased the Python-enabled TI-84 Evo, calling it 'distraction-free'. Reddit devs are roasting the ancient hardware, insane pricing, and testing monopolies.
When you hear Texas Instruments (TI), the old-school devs immediately think of the golden days of smuggling handheld consoles into math class. Well, brace yourselves, because they just dropped a new "flagship" graphing calculator—the TI-84 Evo (or TI-84 Plus CE Python)—and they have the audacity to market it as a "distraction-free" device. Total bullsh*t!
Calling it a "flagship" might make you think it runs Crysis, but let's temper those expectations. Here is the quick rundown for the lazy folks:
The moment this dropped on r/gadgets, the community went wild. Here are the main factions fighting in the comments:
1. The Nostalgia Squad Laughing at "Distraction-Free" User VincentNacon (with nearly 1.4k upvotes) hit them with max sarcasm: "Right... 'distraction-free'. I still remember watching my friends back in 2001, turned their graphing calculator into a hand-held gaming device that let them play Doom, Super Mario, or Worms." Naturally, the replies immediately brought up the legendary Drug Wars game that ruined countless GPAs.
2. The Hardware Nerds Calling Out the Racket Dragongeek pointed out the sheer audacity of the pricing: "Profit margins on these must be absolutely bonkers. Also, pretty wild that the performance is still so sht? Even the cheapest chip today like an RP or ESP can trivially instantly plot basically any function."* They argued you could build a better device for a $4 hardware BOM. The consensus? It's the same old monopoly racket. TI just convinces standardized testing leeches to approve their products and forces every student to buy one.
3. The Insider Truth Bomb Just as the pitchforks were raised, an ex-TI engineer (getdatwontonsoup) entered the chat to drop some facts: "Calculators were only like 3% of our total revenue. We pretty much only made them because it was brand recognition. Our primary markets are semiconductors." Turns out, the calculator monopoly is just a side quest. The real money is in the invisible chips powering the world.
4. The Pragmatists: USB is King Some users (bmwkid, helpmehomeowner) are just happy about the USB port. The old ones used to eat 4 AA batteries like Chrome eats RAM. Plus, these things are immortal. You throw a TI-84 in a drawer, and your future grandkids will still use it to fail Calculus. Hey, maybe next time they'll offer Free $300 to test VPS on Vultr so kids can host their Python scripts in the cloud.
At the end of the day, there’s a massive lesson here for all of us pragmatic devs.
Look at TI's "Vendor Lock-in" mastery. You don't need cutting-edge hardware or a buttery-smooth UI/UX. You just need to build something that the Board of Education requires. When you control the ecosystem and the rules of the game, you can sell 1990s tech at 2024 prices, and people will still line up to buy it.
Sometimes, knowing how to navigate the system and finding the ultimate niche pays way more than writing perfectly optimized code. May we all find our own highly profitable "distraction-free" monopolies someday!
Source: Engadget / Reddit
