Hi everyone!/Bonjour a tous!

This year, Casio released three new USB Power Graphic 3 calculators fx-7400GIII, fx-9750GIII and fx-9860GIII internationally to upgrade their 9-year-old predecessor series. I had never experienced any of them firsthand before until now. Introducing fx-9750GIII, which is my first graphic calculator ever. Brought to you by CalcLoverHK, it is time for me to share some thoughts on fx-9750GIII after using it for one month.

Unboxing

I bought fx-9750GIII on June 13, 2020 for RMB 400 (~€48.12, included postage from mainland China to Hong Kong, now the same reseller sells it at around RMB 330/~€39.70) without SB-88 cable, USB cable and the one-year warranty (only within US). You get what you pay for, but still this price is much lower than Graph 35+EII's and fx-9860GIII's.


Technical information

The fx-9750GIII comes with OS 3.21.3200. This new OS adds Python application and improves catalog search.

Steps to enter the diagnostic mode are the same as before.


Here is my marking of fx-9750GIII!

Appearance: 9/10

The appearance of fx-9750GIII is fundamentally different from its predecessor, fx-9750GII. Instead, it has the same design as fx-9860GIII and Graph 35+EII.

My first impression of this calculator is: it is so thick! I have fx-50FHII and it is much slimmer than fx-9750GIII.


The fx-9750GIII is smaller in size and lighter than its predecessor, making it more portable.

For its body, it is rectangular in shape and all buttons are rectangle, too, thus making it feels more unified overall. Moreover, the navigation keys are cut to diamond shape with wire drawing design. I absolutely love wire drawing because it feels more unique when touching them. Also, it is worth appreciated that Casio chooses black body to make it more professional and to hide fingerprints.

For the side view, there is an arc in the middle. This is to let the user feel more comfortable to hold it.


Turning it to the back, you can see in the middle, it is also cut to a diamond shape.


Texture: 6/10

To be honest, holding it is like holding a heavy-duty plastic object. The feeling of holding it is quite rough. Besides, all of the buttons are quite loose. They give little sound and soft feedback when pressing them. Except the arc design of the body, I am quite dissatisfied with the texture. Maybe because this calculator is made in Thailand instead of in China?

Specifications: 5/10

The tier of fx-9750GIII is changed to be the same with fx-9860GIII and Graph 35+EII unlike fx-9750GII.

I have to say the quality of the LCD screen is poor. Firstly, the LCD becomes smaller which makes me quite uncomfortable when looking at smaller fonts. Also, the LCD pixels use longer time than my expect to be shown. The lingering effect of them is noticeable. Moreover, I notice that when most of the pixels in a line are lit, the rest of the unlit pixels in that line suddenly become darken a bit. Backlight could partially solve those problems, but sadly Casio chooses not to include backlight in fx-9750GIII.

The CPU is still SH4A and have not been changed for 9 years. Although the speed is doubled, the speed can still be overclocked up to 200-300MHz by Ftune3. This is also applicable to fx-9860GII using Ftune2. As a result, this change is quite useless if you know how to overclock your calculator.

The storage has been doubled to around 3MiB. However, there is no SD slot (same with fx-9860GIII) to store even more programs. It turns out that Casio may want to remove SD slot and backlight to reduce weight and cost.

Connectivity: 7/10

Casio finally has deprecated FA-124! You can now connect fx-9750GIII to a computer directly. But there are also two disadvantages.

Firstly, this calculator (alongside fx-9860GIII and possibly Graph 35+EII) cannot be connected to an Android phone unlike fx-CG50 and Graph 90+E. I am a heavy phone user so this matters me a lot.

Secondly, the calculator needs to be in USB mode to transfer and receive files. You cannot transfer and edit a program at the same time.

Applications & functions: 7/10

fx-9750GIII has 18 pre-loaded applications (17 if excluding Geometry add-in) and can install add-ins unlike fx-9750GII.

Since this is my first time to have graphic calculator and I bought it just for programming mainly, I do not know how to use those applications properly, so at this moment I won't talk about them here.

For PGRM application, thanks to the improvement of catalog that can use up to 8 characters to search commands, the efficiency of programming is increased. (But for now I am using C.Basic because the editor of it is even more user-friendly )

For Geometry application, I had so much fun when playing with it. I even accidently created a duck using only 5 circles lol. (This geometry file still exists in my calculator )

And lastly for Python application, as a new addition of USB Power Graphic 3 calculators, the speed of it is much faster than Casio Basic! Sadly at this moment I do not advance Python so much, so let’s move on to the next part.

Q&A time: Since fx-9750GIII is in the same tier with fx-9860GIII/Graph 35+EII, what are the differences between them?

The fx-9750GIII has "Math/Mix" mode in Input/Output setting. This mode allows math inputs but only output linear results. It will be the default mode of fx-9750GIII in Exam Mode.



Besides, it includes "Imp Multi" setting. This setting changes the priority of calculation of multiplication.


For example, if it is turned on,


And if it is turned off,


Both settings are to comply for certain US education and exams. It is therefore clearly seen that fx-9750GIII is sold in US only and fx-9860GIII is sold internationally.

Conclusion & expectations

In a nutshell, fx-9750GIII is by far the best calculator amongst the USB Power Graphic 3 calculators if considering the functions and price. It seems like Casio overpriced Graph 35+EII and fx-9860GIII giving the fact that the price of fx-9750GIII is half of any one of them. Furthermore, the specs have no change at all excluding doubling capacity of storage. It is hoped that Casio can reconsider the price and needs of our communities to get rid of the situation of "new name, old body".