Ode to the Graphing Calculator. The ridiculously expensive Texas Instruments graphing calculator is slowly but surely getting phased out. ![]() In this post I explain how to replace or upgrade memory (RAM) on a Dell Latitude D830 notebook. Also, these instructions should work for a Dell Latitude D820 and. · Apple Watch 3 returned: There are better LTE and fitness-focused watches. The Apple Watch Series 3 is a very good smartwatch for iPhone users, but daily charging. The times they are a- changin’ for the better, but I’m feeling nostalgic. I have some wonderful memories associated with my TIs. You probably have an expensive Texas Instruments graphing calculator packed away somewhere. I do. In fact, I still have two. For years, TI graphing calculators have been on the school supply list of almost every student that even sets foot in an upper- level math class. They are the only calculators allowed on major standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, AP, and IB exams. When I was in school, everybody had one. And if you haven’t poked your head into a high school for a while, that’s still the case—and they haven’t gotten any cheaper. Buy ASUS VivoBook S 15.6" Full HD Laptop, Intel i7-7500U 2.7GHz, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD, Windows 10, Fingerprint Sensor, Backlit Keyboard.: Everything Else. You should add the maximum amount of RAM you can to your Mac mini, which is 16GB if you’re doing it yourself. You can purchase RAM from dedicated Mac component. My first graphing calculator, a TI- 8. Plus, which was the standard at the time, cost my parents $1. Guess what? They’re still just as expensive, even though your watch probably has more computing power now. They can cost upwards of $2. No longer will less fortunate families be forced to shell out major moola for a plastic brick that spends most of its time taking up space in students’ backpacks. But recently, several school districts around the country dealt a worthy blow to the stranglehold Texas Instruments has long held on students and their families’ wallets. The calculator app Desmos, which you can install on your i. OS or Android device for free, was cleared for use on some standardized testing in 1. U. S. states. It’s also available in your browser. TI still remains top dog on 6. Texas Instruments president of education technology Peter Balyta, but its days appear numbered. This is a welcome thing for just about everyone. If this trend continues, no longer will Texas Instruments have a calculator monopoly, and no longer will less- fortunate families be forced to shell out major moola for a plastic brick that spends most of its time taking up space in students’ backpacks. Math will hopefully be more accessible to all. It’s truly for the better. I am a little sad, however. Partly because I’m getting older and losing touch with the youth of today, but also partly because I loved my calculators and future kids won’t get the same experience I did. During my math journey from algebra to high- level college calculus, my graphing calculators became extensions of my brain. But that’s not where my love for the machines came from. No, it was the games and other “apps” that sealed my bond with my TIs. You see, in high school, my friends and I ran an underground ring of calculator game sharing. The process was simple. With a special cable you could install games you found within the darkest depths of the internet onto your device. Then, with the same cable, you could transfer the game data over to a different calculator. My math teachers had no idea the only numbers I was concerned with were my high scores. The TI- 8. 3s and beyond were capable of running all kinds of games that I played during class, on the bus, or even at home—despite the fact I had a perfectly functional Game. Boy. Oh, the hours I spent playing Snake, trying to beat my friends’ high scores. How I longed to beat Phoenix, a bullet- hell shooter that I still can’t believe was written in TI- Basic. From text- based adventures to a near- perfectly- recreated version of Bubble Bobble, my TI was my favorite gaming device. Anybody could play them in class and the teachers would be none the wiser. Now, I know kids can play games on their phones easily enough, but smartphones are the bane of teachers’ existence right now, and having those out in the open raise a lot more suspicions than an innocent calculator. My math teachers had no idea that the only numbers I was concerned with were my high scores. Some games, like ancient stories retold by orators through the years, were merely passed down from generation to generation. Nobody knew where most of the games originated, but everybody had them. Every week it seemed like there was a new game to acquire, and kids with the hottest collections of TI games—like me—had people lining up in the hallway. Like a shady back alley deal, kids would approach me at lunch and ask if I had anything new. Yeah, I got the hookup,” I’d say, “But what you got for me?” I’d like to think that somewhere in the country a kid is playing a game I once passed down from my very own TI- 8. Plus. So I’ll look forward to the bright future of more affordable math tools with a smile, but I won’t look back with hatred. No, today I’m pouring one out for my TIs. Your reign will soon be over, my friends, but I’ll never forget you. Eluktro W6. 50. KK1 1. Gaming Laptop. Really Good for the Price. For only $6. 60, this laptop was a steal. It can run virtually any game that is out right now with decent settings and doesn't get that loud. Only complaint is that the GPU can get really hot in some games. Most of the time the GPU runs at around 8. C but in some games it'll go up to 9. A change in the thermal paste and a laptop cooler would probably solve this situation. The battery is ok for the price. It only lasts about 4 hours with light use and 1 when gaming. Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy about this purchase and would recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a cheap entry level gaming laptop for school or whatever reason. Amazing value for a "gaming laptop"Great performance for a laptop. The GTX 1. 05. 0 Ti doesn't get too hot and hums when on load playing games. The M. 2 SSD that came with it is blazing fast and boots windows in seconds. The CPU is plenty fast for my usage and is upgradable if you need a laptop now and will upgrade later. The screen in a beautiful IPS display with great viewing angles and great color reproduction. The battery life is ok but, I wouldn't say it could go a whole day without a charge. The speakers are very good for music and games and the sound is clear and loud. Best for the Price. Laptop is very well constructed. For the price you pay for it, you probably won't get a better build quality : spec ratio. The only issues I've had from it where some slight heating issues, but only on certain surfaces that aren't conducive the cooling (those plastic fold- out tables). Overall, I've been happy with the game performance I've gotten while using the laptop (I mostly play MMOs and some older AAA titles, but I've had no issue playing ESO, Mortal Kombat, etc.) on high graphics settings so far. Do keep in mind that the laptop does have a desktop CPU in it. Value and performance (at the cost of battery life/weight)This laptop is great. SSD/HDD means it can survive everything short of VR. VR to work with this even if it meets the min specs for the Oculus rift, Nvidia Optimus means the hdmi port is treated secondary to the main display panel and routed through the intel hd graphics for some reason. Some notable drawbacks, size and weight, and battery life is around half what you might expect from a typical mid- range laptop, instead of 6 hours max you'll see around 3 max, and that's with integrated gpu doing the heavy lifting, and reduced (but not passive) active cooling on the i. TB HDD and in the device. The biggest flaw is Nvidia optimus, but it's also easy to fix, its just it's never going to be 1. AAA game with name recognition. You'll launch a game, then hear the gpu fan spinning while you think about how little terraria benifits from the gtx 1. Nvidia optimus, and not unsolvable either, but it's a bit inconvient. Windows 8. 1 introduced DXGI 1. X hook/injector dll (dll hooks into DX can be seen by anti- cheat stuff and cause bans from servers/games/VAC be warned) up on github called NVidia. Optimus. Fixer. It fixes this. GL games, and playing games in a window or borderless fullscreen can also cause it, but with the fix (or os downgrade) everything is good. Amazing for the price. Can not be beat for the price. Even compared to buying used systems with similar specs this is often still cheaper than what I was able to find. The G4. 56. 0 and 1. I don't have a game that I cant get 6. The cooling is adequate for everything I do. The screen looks great. The overall build quality and appearance of the laptop looks and feels great. I get about 2- 3 hours battery life gaming and probably about 5- 6 while just browsing the web and watching youtube. The only downside of this laptop is the keyboard. The tab key seems to stick a little if pushed at a slight angle which makes an audible click. Overall the quality of the keyboard just doesnt feel as nice as the rest of the laptop. I also wouldn't try to run programs in the background while gaming. I have noticed a bit of performance loss with a youtube video running and a couple other programs while gaming. Not really a con but just be aware that 4 threads is often not enough to handle a game while multitasking. Well assembled. I bought this laptop after returning the Dell 7. After using the W6. KK1 for a few days, I am very pleased with it. Great design: I also use this laptop for work, so a more "serious" look is a plus. I am too old for anything red. The top has a brushed finish, so not a fingerprint magnet. In addition, when was the last time you see metallic headphone jack on laptop? Screen: excellent IPS. CPU: replaceable, very unique for a laptop, right now I don't feel the need to replace G4. I will put in i. 5- 7. If you worry about voltage, heating etc. W6. 50. KK1 thread on notebookreview. Price: Best bang for my bucks, tried Total war Warhammer on high settings (ultra seems to increase loading time, this game is more CPU intensive), Dark Souls 3 has no problem. There is a windows 1. Track pad and keyboard are average, but they are not what I am looking for when buying gaming laptop. Fan noise can easily be heard under load but that is expected. Battery: 3- 4 hours on light load, adapter is sizable. Other thoughts. - The laptops comes with a disk for drivers and user's manual while it has no DVD drive. I did not need it but just a thought. Packaging is superb! It tells me how much Eluktronics values their customers. I haven't had the chance to contact them, but if it should occur, I am confident that it would be a pleasure experience. Best bang for your buck. I was very skeptical when I ordered this laptop as there were little reviews and it was fairly cheap for the specs. As soon as I received it I noticed it was a bit heavier than I would like but the overall laptop feels sturdy and great. The laptop can run games really good. I've been playing PUBG on this laptop with no problems. Only complaint I have about this laptop is the keyboard. It does not feel as good as I would like but it is still doable. I would recommend this laptop to anyone thinking about getting it. For the specs you cannot beat this price. Low profile gaming on a budget. I was going to be traveling overseas for almost 2 months and needed something that will suit my gaming needs for then, and for later when I go back to college to use as my daily driver. This laptop filled all the check boxes that what I was looking for in a laptop. One of my main concerns was to get a "ti" version of the GTX 1. Now on to my impressions of the system. The laptop is super low key, and I mean it not in being thin, but rather you could never tell it is a gaming laptop, ever. No flashy logos, no LED lights to put landing strips to shame, this looks quite honestly as a plain semi cheap laptop. Having said that, build quality is good but very plain, there are zero thrills on the machine, and the keyboard is quite honestly average only, the keyboard is not back- lit. The screen seems to do nicely, it might not be the brightest screen in the world but I do like the IPS color reproduction and non- glossy nature of it. Battery life for doing non gaming tasks is average, I imagine I will get about 3 hours out of it which is fine, I usually carry the charger with me, which speaking of the devil, it is not that heavy, I have carried far worse and the laptop is not too heavy it's self, there are heavier ones out there. Now my main sticking point with this system, I was close to giving it 4 stars but I had to keep in mind that for the price I paid ($7. I can't complain much on, and the fact it does not negatively affect performance but it has to be mentioned. The cooling on the laptop is fully adequate to keep it from experiencing any form of throttling, keeping the CPU cool at around 6. C during extended periods of gaming when under 1. The GPU however can not say the same, in not cool environments and no cooling pad, the GPU will easily reach up to 8. C and flirt with 9. C, which most will consider unsafe areas to operate a GPU on, I found that placing a cooling mat and sitting in a cooler environment helped a lot, also limiting FPS on games, I don't need to game on 9. I limit it to the 6. The noise from the fans even when it was running hot while easily heard, don' t have a high pitch whine but instead a low kind of air blowing noise, top marks for that.
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