Hey, I have used the TI-83 for quite a time. In our class, we had both TI-83 and 85 folks. After a while I got pissed off by the limited possibilities the TI-83 offers (for example: A variable can only be composed by one letter - and there are only capital letters...). The TI-85 goes a little step further, and I liked the menu structure better. It just sucks that you can't connect the two. To anybody who's got no clue of programming and wants to *use* the TI, buy the 83, probably easier to start with. And more colorful.

But as I'm talking to folks who also like to *play* with the thingy - stick to 85.

I used to do a lot of stuff with the TI. In fact, it saved my ass during the physics class - no, it DID the physics course for me. And therefore I am eternaly grateful to Texas.

As T-Basic (that's what I call it) is quite limitated, you have to do a lot of thinking, and that can be fun. There is no API to do fancy wizardry, there is chapter 16 in the book and you. Solving problems you learn right here. For example working around TI bugs: There is a bug that if you trace a graph, you cannot set your cursor to a specific point to calculate the derivation there. That can be a pain in the ass, especially with your TI-83 neighbour laughing at you because he can just enter the number he likes, and the cursor will center there. I wrote a program on this, entering the desired x-coordinate will resize the screen in any direction you wish and have the cursor centered were you want it. Or a program to calculate the last three numbers of 15^500. Whatever the teacher thought I couldn't come up with.

And, not to forget, I played Black Jack with my TI. Don't laugh, it is the greatest BJ-program I ever came across till today!