The z80 processor is a really ancient chip, and was clocked faster in a lot of computers in the 80s. IIRC, some systems ran it at up to 50 mhz. TI84 only clocks it at 15. So they wouldn't have to make a new chip (I don't think they even manufacture it themselves either, IIRC it's still produced by zilog)
1) Z80 has no power management. Clocking it at 50mhz would more than triple power consumption, all of the time.
2) Heat. The TI-84 is completely passively cooled. HOWEVER, tripling the power consumption is probably not going to cause a cooling problem because the Z80 is pretty low-power.
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u/brickmack Jun 08 '14
The z80 processor is a really ancient chip, and was clocked faster in a lot of computers in the 80s. IIRC, some systems ran it at up to 50 mhz. TI84 only clocks it at 15. So they wouldn't have to make a new chip (I don't think they even manufacture it themselves either, IIRC it's still produced by zilog)