From: Bill Morrow (penzance_at_icanect.net)
Date: Tue Jun 08 1999 - 11:06:24 EDT
ASSEMBLED in Mexico, Japan, Scotland (i think) and, at one time, in the USA..
all top end thinkpads are DESIGNED at Yamato in Japan..
the first runs are have always come from Japan..
i have a running argument with a friend within IBM..
he says the Mexican machines are better since IBM can afford more engineers on
the line there, than in Japan, where wages are higher..
the Taiwanese mfg. machines were always the low cost machines made to compete
with toshiba, TI, et al.,
In may experience, most low cost Taiwanese machines are cheap, low quality
design work, that work for a while, then deteriorate and die..
they have in the past used socketed pentiums and so forth..
they ARE cheap and they serve their purpose, which is to make $$ for the mfg.
and owners..
you can order most anything from Taiwan, any spec up to their top models,
which sound great, but are or were still lacking in the engineering elegance
of IBM and Toshiba (when Toshiba was uhh.. well..)...
Acer is only as cheap as they want to be.. never underestimate the business
smarts of Acer and Mitac and all those other Taiwanese people..
little guys with garage shops.. they are tough competitors..!
the "i" series is a good machine for the purpose and at the price..
so is the 380 series..
competition is driving down the prices of the top thinkpads, plus the lower
cost of production of these displays...
for instance, i have two 770Z-8AU's on hand at a very low price, which tends
to indicate both competition, lower cost to produce and support, and a new
model hiding in the wings.. (my guess is a summer announcement, and it is a
GUESS).. faster and i have been told, a 15 inch display!
i think these notebooks, like the motorola startac "Vader" phone are fantastic
in the design elegance..
Dx-treme wrote:
> I heard from newsgroup discussion that the i series and possibly the 3800
> series (380&390) are manufactured by ACER a taiwannese company. That alone
> is enough to scare me off.
>
> How about the higher end models ? 500-700 series ? they are made in Mexico
> arent they?? i know my 770e is.
-- Live Long and Prosper, Happy trails...** Bill Morrow ** :-) WEB page http://thinkpads.com Thinkpad User Community: http://thinkpads.com/enter.html Compuserve Thinkpad(c) Forum Sysop e-mail: bill_at_thinkpads.com, penzance_at_icanect.net 770Z-8AU, 760ED, 760CD, (5)701C, 560E, 755CE, 750C et al...
Including, but not limited to, Subject to prior sale, Your mileage will vary, Done on a closed road with a professional driver AND Do not try this at home..
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