The TI-89 Titanium's flash technology allows you to upgrade to future software versions without having to continually invest in new calculators. The 188 KB of RAM, combined with an impressive 2.7 MB of flash memory (three times the memory of the TI-89), are more than sufficient for your stored functions, programs, and data, and add welcome speed to go with the TI's reliability. You can create custom menus or use the default menu. Another cool feature is the Program Editor, which gives you the ability to write custom applications.

The large LCD is adjustable to your environment and can be viewed clearly under a variety of lighting conditions. The calculator also comes with an input/output port and cable, letting you synch up with other TI-89s or TI-92s, as well as a USB port and cable. An attached, hard slide cover protects the calculator from getting knocked around in your backpack. The manual that ships with the TI-89 Titanium is a killer, presenting over 500 pages of clear, concise definitions, function explanations, examples, drawings, and appendices. It's divided into well-organized chapters that cover all the major features of the calculator.

What's in the Box
The TI-89 Titanium, a hard sliding case, a silver oxide battery, a user's guide, an applications CD-ROM, a USB cable, a TI-link cable, and warranty information

Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.5

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-08-27
Content: Item arrived within days of ordering. Excellent product with an outstanding price. Will buy from this seller again.aaa+++++++
Summary: AS ADVERTISED

Rating - 4 Date: 2008-08-08
Content: I have not found any place that sells this calculator for $199.00. The big discounters were at $130.00 and $135.00. So even if you are willing to pay extra to have it shipped to you, you may be better off getting it at lets say......WalMart, Kmart, Officemax, Staples, or online here used.
Summary: Don't believe the list price!!!! Everyone sells it for about $135.00.

Rating - 4 Date: 2008-08-01
Content: Excellent calculator, and excellent service. The product came as promised.

A good experience.

Summary: Good calculator

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-07-27
Content: I bought this for my son for college. He is majoring in Computer Electronics and Engineering Technology. The calculator has been very useful to him, both in his beginning classes and as his courses become more advanced. It came with everything he needed to use it right out of the box (batteries, cables, and instruction booklet). And he should continue to be able to use the calculator long after he graduates and moves on into his chosen career field. Good buy! Great product!
Summary: Great Calculator!

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-06-14
Content: I'm a grad student in physical chemistry and I use it a lot, both for my symbolic calculations, as well as my numerical ones.

It's powerful, and has many functions - excellent for linear algebra, symbolic integration even on some improper integrals (the ones with infinite boundaries that converge), Fourier transforms, equation solving of any kind, differential equation solving, symbolic differentiation, complex number arithmetic, number base conversions, etc. For some functions that do not exist, you can download a program in TI BASIC off of many websites or write your own code in C and compile it in TI-GCC, the TI compiler, and put it on the calculator.

User support is the best in the market, because TI is a very popular brand and many people own as their high end handheld calculator either this or the simpler TI-89, with which the Titanium is entirely compatible. Its user manual is decent and provides a good introduction to a beginner. Besides, a simple search on the many support forums will answer any questions.

Like with all handhelds, the bottleneck is generally the user input speed, not the calculator's speed. Nevertheless, this calculator has the slight disadvantage of being rather slow for complex operations which the user can automate, because it's running on a 16 MHz ARM processor. Graphics are very slow for the levels of complexity that my figures require, so I don't even bother with it on the TI 89 Titanium. For those tasks, you're better off using Mathematica or Matlab on your computer. Remember this is a handheld calculator, not some supercomputer.

In summary:
PROS:
1. good user support;
2. many add-on programs available;
3. easy to create your own programs, especially in C;
4. good diversity of pre-installed commands: calculus, linear algebra, spreadsheet capability;
5. large screen (if not largest in this category);
6. easy to master (took me 2 weeks).

CONS:
1. slower than others on the market, like HP 50g, although you might not necessarily notice;
2. lack of a real equation editor - you must type your formulas in on one line, which leads me to lose track of parenthesis matching sometimes.
Summary: Good symbolic math for a handheld