What do the series names stand for?

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pianowizard · #1 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:06 pm

These are just my guesses, correct me if I am wrong:

A = Average
G = Ginormous
I = Independently made by Acer
R = Regular
S = Small
T = Thin and light
X = Xtreme portability
Z = wideZcreen

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:27 pm

There's no way any rational person could characterize the A series as "average".

Especially when you consider that they were almost universally three spindle machines.

The A30/A31 with both Ultrabay 2000 and Ultrabay Plus bays was one of the most useful machines I've ever had. My A31P hosts my entire home network and is a screamer with a 2.6GHz P4-M.

James

pianowizard · #3 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:45 pm

I owned a kickass A31p, which is definitely above "average". It's so powerful that it was chosen to be the main laptop on the International Space Station. However, the name for the series was picked based on the first model of the series, and the A20m seems quite average to me.

#4 Post by **tomh009** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:01 pm

Let's try a variation ...

A = All-in-one (three spindles)
G = General-purpose (ie desktop replacement)
I = Independently made by Acer
R = Reduced cost?
S = Subnotebook (or sub-X?)
T = Thin and light
X = Xtreme portability

I have no good explanation for the Z, but then that's the only one to be named after the Lenovo acquisition.

JonathanGennick · #5 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:03 am

JHEM wrote:The A30/A31 with both Ultrabay 2000 and Ultrabay Plus bays

It's all water under the bridge now, but I never understood why IBM didn't make both bays the same. I remember when the As were still selling. It bothered me to know end that if I had a Plus device and a 2000 device that I'd be out of luck plugging them both in at once.

Maybe the bays were somehow compatible. That was never clear to me though.

Why'd IBM drop the A series? Did the market go away? Was it just not big enough? I know there are people out there who buy large laptops as desktop-replacements and such. I work with several who've gone that route.

dsigma6 · #6 Post by **dsigma6** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:06 am

Hate on me if you will, but my opinion...

R = Refuse (and not the definition meaning to decline).

JonathanGennick · #7 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:40 am

Dsigma6, I share your opinion. A few years back I bought an R40 each for my mother and daughter. It's a purchase decision I've come to sorely regret. My wife has one of those now, and every time I sit down at breakfast to read the news on it, I kick myself for ever buying it.

Now, I have seen some R50-series models that "looked" to be better built than the R40s, but I'll never put my own money down on an R series again.

It just goes to show the danger in focusing too much on the brand and not enough on the actual product one is buying.

JHEM · #8 Post by **JHEM** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:03 am

JonathanGennick wrote:It bothered me to know end that if I had a Plus device and a 2000 device that I'd be out of luck plugging them both in at once.

There was nothing preventing you from using both bays at the same time, I do it all the time with my A31P. That was the beauty of the three spindle design.

The UltraBay Plus (right side bay) could use any UltraBay 2000 (left side bay) device plus the numeric keyboard or the carrier/dock for the Workpad (Palm V or Vx).

Right now my docked A31P has a 7K100 internal HD, two 250GB WD USB2.0 external HDs via a PCI/USB2 card, and a multiburner in each of the bays.

James

JonathanGennick · #9 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:27 pm

JHEM, I guess it just bothered me that the bays weren't both PLUS bays. Why limit the customer? Why make the customer worry that he can't use his "PLUS" hard drive (or CD drive) in the non-PLUS bay? The worry that I might end up with a CD or DVD or battery or whatever that would only work in one of the bays did put me off a bit at the time. Symmetry is important to me. Doesn't matter now though.

Terrahawk · #10 Post by **Terrahawk** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:38 pm

The UltraBay Plus offers minimal extra functionality over the UltraBay 2000. All UltraBay 2000 devices will work in an UltraBay Plus.

There is only one UltraBay Plus device I know of (on http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/UltraBay) and that's the UltraBay Plus Device Carrier (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/UltraBay_ ... ce_Carrier) and that takes either a numeric keypad or an IBM WorkPad c500 cradle.

What that means is that the inclusion of an UltraBay Plus in real terms, is an academic exercise since unless you have an UltraBay Plus Device Carrier, it may as well be an UltraBay 2000.

#11 Post by **thePCxp** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:38 am

A= All in one
G= General purpose
R= Reasonably priced
S= subnotebook
T= Thin and light
X= Xtreme prortability
And I can't think of anything for the Z and I series.

JonathanGennick wrote:Dsigma6, I share your opinion. A few years back I bought an R40 each for my mother and daughter. It's a purchase decision I've come to sorely regret. My wife has one of those now, and every time I sit down at breakfast to read the news on it, I kick myself for ever buying it.

Now, I have seen some R50-series models that "looked" to be better built than the R40s, but I'll never put my own money down on an R series again.

Just because you had bad luck with the R40 dosen't mean that you should give up on the R series. I have used both the R40 and the R50 series models and I liked both of them and the R50 series had that better built than the R40's feel. Have you actually used an R50 series ThinkPad?

dsigma6 wrote:Hate on me if you will, but my opinion...

R = Refuse (and not the definition meaning to decline).

That sounds a bit offensive to me

.

dsigma6 · #12 Post by **dsigma6** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:36 am

thePCxp wrote:
dsigma6 wrote:Hate on me if you will, but my opinion...

R = Refuse (and not the definition meaning to decline).
That sounds a bit offensive to me .

Well, they're only computers after all.

#13 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:05 am

If you want refuse, try an early generation 3 series. While in one piece, the 350s and 360s are great machines to work with (and real bricks too), a quick opening of the case will reveal how structurally inaddaquate they are. When opening the lid, most of the stress is put upon the bottom of the top lid; mainly on the areas the screws go into. While at first, everything is fine, over time, as screws get weaker and loosen up and such, the lid gets more and more stressed until it just cracks and/or breaks off. I've had this happen with two 350Cs and a 360CS. The 360P's lid design is better and not as delicate. However, the 3 series case design really didn't become adequate until the 380s and 310s arrived in mid-1997.

pianowizard · #14 Post by **pianowizard** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:56 am

AlphaKilo470 wrote:While in one piece, the 350s and 360s are great machines to work with (and real bricks too), a quick opening of the case will reveal how structurally inaddaquate they are.

That's indeed how I felt about the 365X that I owned for about a week last year.

#15 Post by **thePCxp** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:14 am

dsigma6 wrote:Well, they're only computers after all.

No they're not (well, at least for me).

NS · #16 Post by NS » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:30 am

thePCxp wrote:
dsigma6 wrote:Well, they're only computers after all.
No they're not (well, at least for me).

They are more than computers. A pal, a friend and etc...

NS (Thinkpad die hard fan club)

dsigma6 · #17 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:21 am

Well I knew some of you would disagree that they're only computers, but I can't go putting a disclaimer in every post for the small group that likes to argue everything...

JonathanGennick · #18 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:28 pm

thePCxp wrote:Have you actually used an R50 series ThinkPad?

No. Short of buying one, I have no opportunity where I live to try any of the models. I have to buy blind.

I saw an R50-something once at a conference. It did look decent. I did not know the guy using it, so did not ask to try it out.

pianowizard · #19 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:30 am

Does anyone know what the "i" stands for in "R61i"? Lenovo says the R61i is "for home office". Perhaps "inexpensive"?

ajkula66 · #20 Post by **ajkula66** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:39 pm

pianowizard wrote:

Does anyone know what the "i" stands for in "R61i"?

How about "irrelevant" ?

#21 Post by **ryengineer** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:17 pm

pianowizard wrote:Does anyone know what the "i" stands for in "R61i"? Lenovo says the R61i is "for home office". Perhaps "inexpensive"?

They're targeted for consumer and small business segments just like i Series was ("i" was for innovation for bringing new changes at that time).

"e" in R series is for "Everyday" computing by the way.

#22 Post by **schen** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:47 pm

dsigma6 wrote:Hate on me if you will, but my opinion...

R = Refuse (and not the definition meaning to decline).

There is a reason for this. The R40s were actually an extension of the i Series and the last of the Acer contracted ThinkPads. The plug-in on the opposite side as normal for that vintage is a dead give-away. This collaboration extends all the way back not only i Series, but to the 390 as well (it even uses the same battery as the Acers of the time). The R50s were a whole different kettle of fish all together.

I currently use an R60 at work and am pretty happy with it. I could have been a Dell or HP just as easily so I count myself lucky to not have to use the devil's invention (touchpad). Personally, I have a T and would pretty much always opt to buy a T. I also have a A31p (courtesy of the A31p Farmer) and my wife uses an A31 w/ SXGA+ Flexview so I love those as well.

I do agree on the build quality though. I hate bad build worse than almost anything and I really don't like the old Acers much.

dsigma6 · #23 Post by **dsigma6** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 4:12 pm

Wow, one year later and I still get the topic subcription notification!

I still dislike the R series since I posted in December of '06, but I would never put them below the i series!

What do the series names stand for?

What do the series names stand for?

Rs

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