Omnimaga
Calculator Community => Other Calculators => Topic started by: ssavage on March 12, 2013, 04:25:15 pm
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We were referred to your forum by a walk-in customer today who purchased the new TI84 + C Silver Calculator from us. First of all, great forum. Second, I am Suzanne from Underwood Distributing! :) We have been a Texas Instruments educational dealer for 30 years, we are the only TI educational dealer in the state of Michigan. We only ship new product directly from Texas Instruments (USA), we never sell anything used/demo/2nd class. Our product comes in new and is shipped out the same way. Questions on this forum were discussing exactly who we were and how can we have this new calculator available already? We received our first initial shipment of 24pcs of this calculator a week ago, we filled our pre-order customers and now we have more stock of 12pcs arriving on Thursday and then continuing shipments relative to orders. I do see on the Texas Inst. educ site it still says "Spring 2013" but if you click on "Where to Purchase" it lists a whole list of educational dealers (including us) to purchase from. I cannot guarantee what dealers have stock because every dealer is separate and it all depends if they were able to get stock from this first wave of TI84 + C Silver Calculators that were available. You can always trust any of the dealers listed on the Texas Instrument Educational Site to provide you with new Texas Instruments calculators!
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So you say the TI84+CSE is already out? Well, that's pretty cool.
Thanks for signing up and telling us!
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You are welcome! When a new Texas Instrument product hits the market there is always this first wave of concern over how one company can have a product over other companies, sometime it's just a luck of the draw on how the dealers place their orders and the order in which orders are placed. I do not know yet if this unit will be made available at most major retailers yet...Texas Instruments will do their marketing study of the initial sales of this item and go from there I am sure. I have worked here 20 years and am familiar with the marketing process of Texas Instruments. ;) Thanks again!
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Thank you for the news indeed, and welcome to Omnimaga! :)
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Wow, this is interesting news, thank you for sharing this with us! I will need to see if I have the funds available to try out this model.
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Welcome to omnimaga, and thank you for telling us!
How high do they sell currently?
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@Sorunome: Here. (http://www.underwooddistributing.com/shop/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=971&category_id=66&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53)
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Ironically, they're $129.95.
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$129 means it's roughly the same price as Staples for the 84+SE right now. Maybe Staples will charge a bit more, though. I'm hoping that in Canada it will not be more than what the SE used to cost ($179.99) so that it has a chance to get somewhat popular. In USA the PRIZM is also $129.99.
Also thanks for informing us and welcome here! Thanks for the comments about the forums also :). At first I wasn't too sure since I couldn't find any other retailer that had the calc but I am glad that TI is shipping them to retailers already (and I didn't check the retailer list on TI website since I thought they were only American retail stores rather than online ones and I live in Canada). One issue that happened in 2007 when the TI-Nspire came out is that several people and even some companies sold prototypes on Ebay that could not be upgraded at all. It was hard to tell in some case, because sometimes the calc looked identical or the seller replaced the pic with a generic one to try to pass them as commercial models. However, given that the CSE release is imminent, I wasn't too surprised of seeing it on a retailer's site ready for shipping. I guessed that it was to ensure that customers don't have to wait weeks after the release before getting their hand on their brand new calc. :)
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So it's released just not public yet? I wonder why TI would do that.
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If this is for-real, then it's released to the public. It's just no in brick-and-mortar stores yet. It makes sense for TI to divert the initial production runs to online retailers, who can sell them directly to the limited number of customers who want one now, rather than having them languish in stores, during the months when few students are looking to buy a calculator.
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It might actually have been released, but TI didn't announce it. Basically retailers probably just can start ordering a bunch of calcs to make them available in their respective stores soon. Of course they can't really announce an official release right now since it will take some time for the batches of calcs to arrive at respective stores.
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I know that distributors can do little about that, as TI defines the target market price, but $129.95 is ridiculously expensive for such an under-powered device based on such heavily outdated technology. The much more powerful Nspire CX is barely more expensive !
(granted, the programmability of Nspires has always sucked and keeps sucking, but at least, the bang for the buck of the Nspire series is much higher than that of the 84+CSE)
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I agree about the $129.95 price being a bit high coming from our base price at Texas Instruments (USA) versus the price of the Nspire CX color (same price at Underwood Dist anyway). You may think that official Texas Instruments dealers make a killing on the school calculators but the opposite is true, most dealers are lucky to make 3-7% per unit in competition with eachother, the same goes for the Casio calculator market dealer prices. Which is all beneficial to the end-user, students, schools. Be very, very weary of those Ebay/Amazon 3rd Party Sellers like someone mentioned, make sure you are getting what you paid for! A good deal happening at Texas Instruments right now is the close-out of the Nspire Touchpad series calc, you can buy it there online for $55, we have it going for $54.95, schools have been jumping on this special like crazy with budget contraints etc. this is a good way for classrooms to advance their technology if they were only using the TI84+. I would suspect that TI will be dropping the price of the regular TI84+ Silver Edition, but don't be looking for a close-out price of this item just yet since there is no word yet on it going away. Someone mentioned being in Canada...we sold a TI84+ C Silver to Quebec province last week, total out the door for UPS Standard was $153.82, this didn't include the end-users taxes/duties though so I don't know how much they gouge you for those!! This seems like a forum where you have enjoyed the TI calculators of the past....the TI85, the TI86, TI89, TI92? These were great calcs, so many people disapointed when TI did away with them. No worries, the TI89T and the Voyage 200 are still current and going strong.
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Yeah, both DJ_O and myself are in Québec, $153.82+taxes/duties that's not bad for a TI calculator (they often goes to $179, even $199 in stores), can't wait to see how they'll sell in stores.
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I know that distributors can do little about that, as TI defines the target market price, but $129.95 is ridiculously expensive for such an under-powered device based on such heavily outdated technology. The much more powerful Nspire CX is barely more expensive !
(granted, the programmability of Nspires has always sucked and keeps sucking, but at least, the bang for the buck of the Nspire series is much higher than that of the 84+CSE)
The Nspire is actually $159.99 ish, but I think it used to be much higher back when it came out. It came down due to poor sales IIRC, but now it's quite popular since OS 2.0 and stuff. The price is steep, but I think that's due to TI's monopoly so they feel they can charge more for calcs than other companies even if the hardware is old.
Also ssavage in Quebec the TI-Nspire CX ran for $199.99 last year, and that's not including taxes. Texas Instruments seems to either have a problem with Canadians or they are years behind in updating exchange rates. The Casio PRIZM is $129.99 in both USA and Canada, yet TI calcs are between $20 and $50 higher in Canada. NES, PS3 and Xbox consoles and games are all the same price in Canada and USA too (although that wasn't the case 10 years ago), but some electronics are still more expensive here than there, even though the dollars are on-par. This is why I decided to buy my 84+CSE online on an American site. By the way, when we buy online from American sites we pay no taxes. I think from Canadian sites there might be taxes, though.
I really can't wait to get the calc, even though the PRGM editor is really slow to scroll through. IIRC Kerm, who is close to TI, has sent suggestions to speed up the program editor, and he might also work on a solution in Doors CS 8.
And yes a lot of people here got older calcs, because Omnimaga started back in the 83+ days and some of the members who are active now still got older models, even the TI-81 sometimes, either for collector purposes or because they have been doing programming for years.
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Bump: Question: Will the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition come with a CD containing TI-Connect software or just the USB cables? Because on TI website only the Mac version of TI-Connect 4.0 is available...
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I didn't get a CD with mine, just a calc to calc usb, calc to computer usb and an adapter that goes from A/C to usb to charge off the wall outlet. TI-Connect currently registers the calc as just an 84+SE, but you can't get access to the special picture variables, I think Kerm said.
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But unlike me, did you get the sealed commercial pack like Brandon or not?
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFWhVvsCcAA1BNP.jpg:large)
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Yep, mine looked just like that, as posted here: (http://tifreakware.net/tifreak8x/misc/IMG_0083.JPG) :)
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One thing that has changed with Texas Instruments over the years is their "paring" down of packaging...which sometimes can be bad for the customers since they would sometimes still like full owners manuals, cd's etc. still included when they purchase a product over $100+ dollars....not only that but if Texas Instruments does not stay updated on their downloadable software platforms (all) it can be frustrating for the customer.
Glad you received your units! Any input you would like me to forward to our TI reps I would be glad to do so. I like doing this because it lets them know the concerns/issues that their customers are having.
The packaging shown is the only one we have available, TI went to all this "red" packaging last year...suppose to attract the "eye". I thought the color red was only suppose to make you hungry? Ha.
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Darn those packages are ugly lol. I think some calcs used them around 1995 or so. I can't wait to get mine, though.
It sucks that it doesn't include TI-Connect, though. :( I hope that TiLP gets updated with TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support in the meantime, otherwise people who got the calc already won't be able to transfer programs until TI releases TI-Connect 4.0 for Windows.
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Darn those packages are ugly lol. I think some calcs used them around 1995 or so. I can't wait to get mine, though.
It sucks that it doesn't include TI-Connect, though. :( I hope that TiLP gets updated with TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support in the meantime, otherwise people who got the calc already won't be able to transfer programs until TI releases TI-Connect 4.0 for Windows.
Actually, TI-Connect 1.6 can send/receive most variable types just fine, excluding Images and Pictures (and maybe OSes)
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Darn those packages are ugly lol. I think some calcs used them around 1995 or so. I can't wait to get mine, though.
It sucks that it doesn't include TI-Connect, though. :( I hope that TiLP gets updated with TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support in the meantime, otherwise people who got the calc already won't be able to transfer programs until TI releases TI-Connect 4.0 for Windows.
Actually, TI-Connect 1.6 can send/receive most variable types just fine, excluding Images and Pictures (and maybe OSes)
TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support has been added in TI-Connect since 2004? O.O
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Darn those packages are ugly lol. I think some calcs used them around 1995 or so. I can't wait to get mine, though.
It sucks that it doesn't include TI-Connect, though. :( I hope that TiLP gets updated with TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support in the meantime, otherwise people who got the calc already won't be able to transfer programs until TI releases TI-Connect 4.0 for Windows.
Actually, TI-Connect 1.6 can send/receive most variable types just fine, excluding Images and Pictures (and maybe OSes)
TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition support has been added in TI-Connect since 2004? O.O
No, more like a TI-84+CSE follows the same protocol so it can link with 83+/84+ family calculators.
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Ok but that still doesn't solve the issues about new variables like 8ck or whatever, right? (Since those will throw an invalid variable error upon sending)
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Ok but that still doesn't solve the issues about new variables like 8ck or whatever, right? (Since those will throw an invalid variable error upon sending)
They're the exact same format as 8xk as far as we can tell, but they have a different signature only accepted by the 84+CSE. The extension difference is so users can easily tell the difference.
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Ok, now... $90.28 shipping ($25.13 for UPS standard, but there are extra fees of $65.16)... really?
Guys, if you live in Canada, if you plan to buy a calculator online, do not choose UPS as postal service (Not sure if any alternative is available with Underwood, but UPS was the cheapest one listed). There are hidden fees awaiting for you when your item will be available for pickup and you'll end up spending as much as or more than if you would buy the calc in Canada (even with taxes)!
Just use USPS Priority Mail International or something like that instead. Plus at least with USPS when the item arrives, they leave it at the post office if you're not home, rather than 30 miles from your home at their headquarters in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, but with UPS, you have to call if you want to pick up your item there or if you want to choose when to attempt to deliver it again. Since the service is unavailable during weekends, if you are never home on weekdays during daytime, you're pretty much screwed. Their website do not work (an error appears when trying to change delivery settings).
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My calc has finally arrived! Thankfully USPS is more reasonable (although tracking is a bit late lol). Shipping was almost identical to UPS Ground, yet I didn,t have any extra fees after the initial shipping cost.