Calculator suggestions (nSpire CAS?)

[pointyhat]

Hi all - couldn't find another suitable place to post this on the Internet...

My TI92 died last week after 15 years of use (OK I killed it with coffee), and I thought I'd just try and get by with Wolfram Alpha but it's just clunky and horrible. I'm currently using my spare TI86 which lacks a CAS but gains handy constants and just feels better for engineering purposes. I used my '92 for basic EE tasks (CAS due to laziness, matrices, complex numbers, diff/integ etc). I've written a few disposable programs on it, but nothing worth keeping past the problem being solved. This is not my day job, which is financial software (boring!).

Obviously, you can't get the '92 any longer so there's a few options on the table for me: Another '92 off ebay, new NSpire CAS, new TI89, new Voyage 200, make do with my spare TI86.

I'm tempted by an nSpire CAS but I have no experience with them and to be honest, anything I can find is pretty much aimed at high school math. Does anyone have any experience with one of these in an EE setting?

I'm not interested in anything HP or RPN - I find them horrible!

 

[moouers]

I just bought the nSpire CX CAS for my schooling since the screen on my old 83+ went bad. Since I'm fairly new to the calculator, I can't offer much assistance, but I can say it is certainly quite powerful, and it's easier to input mathematical expressions into it than it is with Wolfram Alpha (for now).

As for your EE classes, take a look at this page:
http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?topic=13849.0

It's still in development, but it certainly seems to help bridge the gap between the 89 and the nSpire CAS. The nSpire seems a bit more future-proof to me (TI has been putting out very usable updates to the OS), so that's why I got it over the 89.

Just some food for thought. I think you'd do fine with any of your mentioned choices.

 

[pointyhat]

Thanks for your reply and suggestions - much appreciated. I didn't know about FormulaPro and it certainly looks rather useful. Committing a lot of that stuff to memory is rather tiresome.

I've just ordered a CX CAS and I figure if I don't like it, I'll just eBay it and buy a TI89.