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I wonder about the right French word to use to translate "series" (Computer context).

For instance, the

IBM 700/7000 series

Wikipedia (fr) uses "série" in this case, but that doesn't sound right to me.

Série IBM 700/7000

Could be wrong, but wouldn't "gamme" sound better?

IBM gamme 700/7000

What do you think?

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    Gamme est bien aussi, mais l'ordre des mots est le même que pour Série: Gamme IBM 700/7000.
    – mouviciel
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 6:51
  • Can you explain why it doesn't sound right to you? I mean, in english the xxx series indicates the series numbered xxx. In french the série xxx indicates the série numérotée xxx. What is wrong in it according to you?
    – Aweuzegaga
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 9:11
  • @Aweuzegaga Maybe because my French sucks?
    – Déjà vu
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 10:41
  • I am not asking or commenting your level in french... My question is, can you elaborate on why it doesn't sound right to you? Is it just a feeling? Do you think série is a bad equivalent for serie in this context and if yes why?
    – Aweuzegaga
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 11:00

2 Answers 2

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In this context, a gamme is a range of products while a série is a sequence of products.

They might be interchangeable like in your example but beware that it is not always the case.

A gamme often encompass the whole range of the products a manufacturer is building while a serie is a subset of it.

For example, the gamme of cars sold by BMW is a suite of séries: Série 1, Série 2, Série 3 and so on.

There are also some idioms like:

  • Fin de série: The last models of a kind being produced.

  • Série limitée: A short number of models produced with specific features (either optional ones included for the same price, or unique features or quality). Compare to Gamme limitée that means a narrow range of products.

There is also de série that means either being included in the standard model (opposed to en option), or being available as a standard model (opposed to prototype or sur mesure).

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I would agree with both, but as @mouviciel noted the order of the words would be different. In fact I would go for :

La gamme 700/7000 d'IBM

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