# Texas Instruments TI-82 graphing calculator

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Texas Instruments TI-82 graphing calculator and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for how much information fits on its display and for its BASIC programming, which many remember fondly. One commenter notes its price has not dropped over the decades.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun BASIC programming for building things (2 comments): "These come with some form of BASIC (at least it had 30 years ago)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47586300)) "Man I loved programming TI-82s. So many fun ways to build things." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450533))
- Fond, impressive memories of using it (2 comments): "Looking back, it was really amazingly impressive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980872)) "I do have fond memories of my TI-82" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981518))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-84-evo.md): 41 recommend
- [TI-89 calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-89-calculator.md): 31 recommend
- [TI-83 Plus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-83-calculator.md): 21 recommend
- [Desmos](https://hackerapproved.com/p/desmos.md): 15 recommend
- [TI-85 calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-85-calculator.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Texas+Instruments+TI-82+graphing+calculator&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://education.ti.com/en/products/calculators/graphing-calculators/ti-82)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Texas Instruments TI-82 graphing calculator", https://hackerapproved.com/p/texas-instruments-ti-82-calculator/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).