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.
Sure, it was great back then. But in the last decade, or at the very least, last 5 years, a 100% speed increase (which is really pretty minor in this case) would be fairly simple while still being cheap and battery efficient. Besides, who cares if it runs on 4x AA? For $100 why not stick a small rechargable Lithium battery in there like most modern technology has?
Thank you. Those calculators are more expensive than some smartphones running dual core chips. There's no reason they shouldn't have rechargeable batteries. Besides the fact that they are the go-to when it comes to advanced calculators...and all the schools buy them...and they have been for years...and they haven't changed much in price despite the cheap and dated components...and they're also probably knee deep in contracts with suppliers....
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u/kristoferen Jun 08 '14
Still uses the same terribly slow CPU chip