Texas Instrument's TI-5019 is a surprising value for home or office users in the market for a basic desktop calculator with business functions and printing capability. It is inexpensive, doesn't take up the room that most printing calculators require, and has excellent output quality. It also can run on either four AA batteries or the included AC adapter, making it easy to move from your office desk to the dining room table without you having to fumble around for the power supply. The display shows up to 10 digits in large, clear letters that unfortunately aren't backlit but are very readable nonetheless. The printer uses standard paper rolls instead of more expensive thermal paper, and the output quality is as close to perfect as we've seen. Characters are dark, crisp, and consistent, making printouts very easy to read. The only drawbacks to this unit are that it can't print negative numbers in red, and it makes a tremendous amount of noise when doing its work.
The TI-5019 has large keys that are grouped logically and are color coded. Texas Instruments wisely sacrifices the size of keys that aren't used much, like the memory keys and decimal setting keys, in order to make the number keys and plus key much larger than would otherwise have been possible.
One of the nice things about the TI-5019 is that it operates just like a standard calculator. There's no need to learn the RPN (reverse Polish notation) entry method that more professional models use. This means more keystrokes are required, but as the TI-5019 was never meant for heavy use that's not such a big deal, and operating it is very straightforward. There aren't any dedicated tax keys or a grand-total key, but the unit does have a separate key for gross profit margin. Buttons at the top let users select among several decimal display modes, including floating or fixed decimals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6) and an add mode. There's also a backspace key for correcting mistakes without having to clear an entire line, plus a special print key that can put dates or invoice numbers on the paper. --T. Byrl Baker
Pros:
- Nice print quality
- Good compromise of features and form factor
- No need to learn reverse Polish notation
Cons:
- No grand-total or tax keys
- Can't print in red
