# Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo 41 Hacker News commenters recommended Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo and 53 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (7 owners). **Verdict:** Long-lasting graphing calculator that students use through school and college for plotting, programming and arithmetic. Most common caveat: it costs too much for what it offers. ## Why people recommend it - Good value for the money (4 comments): "$100 for something you'll use all through middle and high school and into college isn't a bad deal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47982044)) "2 dinners out for a family of four would cover the cost of this calculator." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980594)) "Honestly a pretty good investment (from my parents) I'd say." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980705)) - Used through school and college (5 comments): "$100 for something you'll use all through middle and high school and into college isn't a bad deal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47982044)) "I certainly got a lot of educational value out of mine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980280)) "I use mine constantly in high school (now)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980852)) - Taught programming and math basics (3 comments): "It definitely taught me the basics in a way that made my CS classes much easier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47982120)) "I learned programming because of that calculator." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981053)) "The Basic variant on a TI-84 was magic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46608974)) - Plots equations and datasets (2 comments): "I found great enjoyment in coming up with more and more involved plots in the Polar and Parametric modes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981983)) "you can plot equations and datasets with them and look at them right there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981316)) ## What people warn about - Overpriced for its features (6 comments): "it sure is a shame there's not competition here driving the cost of these things down and the features way up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981518)) "TI have done a good (financial) job milking these products whilst under investing in real product innovation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981212)) "I find it really hard to believe that they can't provide better specs and feature set for the cost" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980793)) - Locked in by schools and publishers (4 comments): "it was a waste of money, felt like somebody must be paying somebody off to have thousands of students buy a device that they will certainly never have to use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980266)) "The math books even have content tailored to particular models so that you'll have to buy them instead of alternatives from other vendors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980357)) "it was a giant racket between public schools and TI. Writing code for it was probably cool back in the 80s-90s but it's so dated now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980398)) - Dated hardware and interface (3 comments): "The way you input things like division, integrals, matrix, etc. on newer calculators like the nspire is far superior than the older calculators (eg. ti-84, ti-89, etc.)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980396)) "it was a giant racket between public schools and TI. Writing code for it was probably cool back in the 80s-90s but it's so dated now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980398)) "With a 156MHz processor and 3.5 megabytes of user-available memory the kids will even learn how to optimize their code!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980267)) - Easy to replace with AI tools (2 comments): "it's insane to me that in an era of Google Colab (et al) schools still require students to shell out >$100 for one of these" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980963)) "It's expensive and any plot it can generate is 1 prompt away from the AI that students are already using." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47981858)) ## Alternatives hackers 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 - [HP 50G](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hp-50g.md): 10 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Texas+Instruments+TI-84+Evo+graphing+calculator&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://www.ti.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ti-84-evo/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).