Ti-30
| The ti-30 was a model famous for its ubiquity. there is
nothing particularly special about this model, its just an ordinary,
average, scientific calculator. it arrived on the market at a time when if
you wanted a cheap scientific calculator for everyday use, this was it.
introduced in 1976, it was significantly cheaper than models from hewlett packard. the ti-30 line continues to perpetuate to this day with many variations like the lcd version, the small ti-30s and currently the ti-30xiib. The red-led display and wedge style was typical of ti models at this time. they all looked roughly similar and all had click buttons. i was never happy with the click buttons because, even on the more expensive models, they used to bounce eventually. The back of the machine has the usual ti removable panel, but instead of a rechargeable battery pack, the ti-30 has a cavity for a pp3 9v battery. this made sense for a budget model. the display is only 8 digit and there are 3 internal digits making 11 digits of accuracy. 3 spare digits was typical of ti and in ten digit models having 13 altogether was a real accuracy bonus. having actual buttons for on and off was a real novelty as most machines of this period continued to use a switch. there is a noticeable delay in calculation on this model whilst the rightmost digit wurbles, but it is not excessive. it has a screen saver! after a few seconds of inactivity, the display will start showing a scanning dot and wakes up on a key press.
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