This was the first of the really useful graphic calculators. There are better ones available now, but not at the price of these older models.
It takes AAA batteries unlike the 7700 which eats up CR2032 coin cells at a terrifying rate.
It draws graphs (obviously) but that was never why people loved these calculators - it helps with sketching questions, but no more. The real reason these are essential for A-Level exams is the ability to solve quadratics (and much higher powers too), find all sorts of statistical results (Normal cdf/pdf etc.), work with matrices, complex numbers etc., etc.
This one then displays the graphs in 3 colours to let you compare them!