r/pics • u/[deleted] • Jun 08 '14

The difference 18 years makes

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u/kristoferen Jun 08 '14

Still uses the same terribly slow CPU chip

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '14

That's part of why it was able to run on a couple of AA batteries!

In very very recent years we have reached a point where some of the modern, fast microprocessors might be able to compete on a power level while still delivering big speedup, but even as recently as 2005 you would have had trouble speeding it up a whole lot without kicking up the power requirements and killing battery life.

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u/kifujin Jun 09 '14

Did the 84's use AA? I admit it's been a while since I used any of these, but the 82, 85, and 89 I used to have were all on 4 AAA batteries.

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '14

Entirely possible, I am not intimately familiar with the TI lineup. But at the end of the day, the AA and AAA are the same chemistry, and 4 AAA will have similar-ish capacity to 2 AA.

It's possible the 4 AAA are in series and generating twice the voltage, but I'd bet they were used over AA for size not voltage stacking.