[ltp] Thinkpad names
Pam Huntley
linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Thu, 5 Sep 2002 12:15:59 -0400
Wow, that was an excellent summary.
I only have one addition: the Axxp line. I know, it's a subgroup of the A
series, but any of the A-series with a p on the end is intended to be a
high-end, desktop replacement machine. They have all 3 spindles, the 15in,
high-rez LCD, and the best graphics cards. Of course, the graphic card
situation changed with the T30, when the T series started using the ATI
card as well, although you're still limited to the 14in LCD. The Axxm is
exactly as you have described it.
That's all!
Pam
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A bit of history on Thinkpad Names:
The first IBM thinkpads that used a 486 class processor was the 700 line.
The 700 line was an MCA based thinkpad meant for business users. The 720
was
a follow-on to that machine with faster processor and larger hard drive.
IBM
also released the Thinkpad 350 line. The 350 was the beginning of the
low-end business/home office line of thinkpads. After those thinkpads, IBM
came out with a new line of thinkpads that were designed by engineers in
their Japanese research division. This was the beginning of the ascendance
of IBM Thinkpads. Two lines were introduced: a Thinkpad 360 line for
home/small business, and the Thinkpad 750 for large business. Both of these
lines of thinkpads were normal sized laptops. Smaller notebooks
(sub-notebooks) were becoming popular in some areas, so IBM released the
Thinkpad 500, a very small and light thinkpad. IBM followed the 500 with
the
550, which was had a faster processor. The 750 line was enhanced with the
755C/CS line.
The next big breakthrough was the 755CD/CX/CV line of thinkpads because of
their inclusion of the MWave processor. The laptops were still targeted
toward the high-end business users. IBM introduced the 365 line of
thinkpads
as a newer version of the home/home-office line. The 500 line of thinkpads
had been criticized for having far too small of keyboards, so IBM came out
with the 701 "butterfly" line. This was the first annoying break from the
naming conventions between 3xx/5xx/7xx. The 701 was a subnotebook, but IBM
was trying to push it as a full business class thinkpad. The 701 was
hampered by its slower processor (486/100 max) even though it was a really
cool machine.
IBM continued to run this separation between home-machines being 3xx,
subnotebooks 5xx, and large business being 7xx. Some of the 7xx machines
were stripped down in features and marketed towards home users as a
"business class machine" good for home users. Nothing like IBM marketing.
IBM introduced the 560 line of Thinkpads as a subnotebook, but as opposed
to
being a smaller screen and keyboard, the 560 started the line of "thin"
Thinkpads. The 600 series followed the 560 line of "thin" laptops.
IBM introduced the "i" line of thinkpads as a replacement to the 3xx line.
The "i" line of Thinkpads were meant for home users, and were significantly
cheaper than many of the other lines. Unfortunately, at this point, the IBM
numbering scheme was very confusing, so IBM wisely instituted a clean-up of
their numbering that makes much more sense. This leads to our current
generation of machines.
First, let me describe what spindles are. Laptop can be characterized by
how many "spindles" they have. This is a description of the number of
rotating components they have. A laptop that has a hard-drive, a
floppy-drive, and cd-rom all internal is a three spindle laptop. If it
only
has a hard-drive and (floppy or cd-rom) internal, it is two-spindle. If it
can only have the hard-drive interal, it is a one-spindle machine.
Obviously, the less spindles that a laptop has, the lighter and small the
thinkpad can be.
Txx - Pushed as the replacement of the 7xx (and to some degree the 6xx),
the
T series is the highest end laptops IBM makes. They are two-spindle laptops
that generally use the configuration of harddrive+cdrom. These thinkpads
are
very-fast, and moderately light, but also can be expensive.
Axx - Pushed as the replacement of the 3xx series, and initially the
iSeries, the Axx series are three spindle laptops. Because they have
everything internal, the A series are the heaviest thinkpads that IBM
makes.
The A series are less expensive than the T series, and they lack some of
the
features that the T series has, but they are very solid laptops that I find
to be a good compromise on price and features. (I have a A20m).
Xxx (heh) - The X series laptops were introduced as a replacement for the
5xx and 6xx series with an emphasis on being small and light. These
thinkpads are one-spindle machine, having only an internal hard-drive.
These
laptops are less expensive than the T series, and are very small and light.
For students and people who travel, these laptops are quite good.
Rxx - IBM realized there was a need for a good educational/home-use laptop
to replace the iSeries. The R Series are two spindle machines that do not
have the extra features that the T Series uses. So the R series machine
are
least expensive machines, and they have a good compromise on features and
size. They are slightly heavier than the T series, but lighter than the A.
I did almost all of this off the top of my head, so please correct the
mistakes that I know are in there. I did leave out the international
laptops
that never really showed up in the US (240) and the Power series (the first
laptop I ever saw with an attached webcam).
Doug
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