They are absolutely outdated and expensive. TI 83 came out in 1996. 17 years is an eternity when it comes to technology. Back in 1996, people were still playing on the original brick Gameboys. (unless they decided to upgrade to the pocket which had the same functionality). But let's be fair and look at the 83+ as that's what's most common. It still came out all the way back in 1999. So for comparison there, the Gameboy Color had just come out the previous year. The heart of the ti-83+ is a 6 MHz Zilog Z80 processor (
which you can buy solitary for $3.25 these days). The heart of the GBC was an 8MHz customized Zilog Z80. Even all the way back in 1998 at release, the gameboy color cost you $80 brand-spanking new (I still remember when my mom drove me to walmart so I could buy my atomic purple GBC). The 83+ sold for, what, $150 on release? That's understandable as the hardware was indeed more expensive back then, and more importantly, all the R&D that went into programming the calculator to do what it does (not that they started from scratch, though, since it was built off the 83, which was built off the 82, which was a stripped down 85...). But here we are 14 years after the release of the ti-83+ and they're still selling for $95 at walmart. The hardware dirt-cheap to produce, and they've the R&D that went into it was paid off LONG ago.
The only reason they can keep selling them like they do is because that's what schools tell you that you must use because they already have the market penetration. Selling these ancient pieces of hardware for such a high price is pretty much a result of their monopolistic hold on graphing calculators at an educational level. Fortunately for me, I don't need a graphing calculator and only need a scientific/engineering calculator, so my ~$15 Sharp EL-w516x is perfect.
This is where simple economics come into play. To start:
TI-84 Plus, a standard for math from basic algebra through advanced calculus and beyond as far as many textbooks are concerned. This and the 83 Plus are both fairly old calculators at this point, yet, they remain prominent. Why? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It saves on textbook creation when you don't have to reinvent the wheel every third edition. Thus, TI-84 Plus and TI-83 Plus are unlikely to go out of style, despite the fact that technologically, especially the TI-83 Plus is a dinosaur. Now, looking at this, essentially inelastic demand is created for especially the TI-84 at this point, but also the TI-83 Plus. That means that even if the calculator is getting fairly close to its 15th birthday, as long as it is consistently needed, costs won't waver. Even if it's that $100+ that the TI-84 Plus costs to grab new, it will always sell at that price as it's always needed.
To further establish this point, one need not look further than the
TI-Nspire CX CAS. This calculator is clearly rather new, especially when compared to the TI-84 and TI-83. It doesn't run on AAA batteries, it has a full keyboard, a color screen, 3D graphing, real world scenario integration, etc. I'm sure the processor, although I couldn't find out exactly which one it was on a quick Google search, is at least more than that measly $3.25 that the TI-83 Plus processor costs. This is essentially a calculator for the smartphone age that tries to do more than a single app on your smartphone would really be capable of. How much does it cost to grab it new? About $140. Only approximately $40 more than a TI-84 Plus that is nearly 10 years old.[/URL]
Why does the substantially newer, more functional calculator cost barely $40 more over 10 year old, probably older, really, tech? There isn't as high of a demand, so the price more accurately reflects the technology contained within. People will buy it, but textbooks will never use it as an example and teachers will never recommend it over the TI-84 Plus they've been using since it replaced their marginally different TI-83 Plus.
You can justify why the calculator should cost less on paper quite easily using basic logic, but realistically, as long as it has to be bought, it will sell well despite the high price. Yay economics?
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