In The Terminator, what model designation does the killing machine use?

In The Terminator, the killing machine uses the designation Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.

The film’s end credits identify Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character as the “Terminator,” while later franchise material connects his appearance to the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101. The machine is a T-800 infiltration unit covered by living tissue, allowing it to resemble a human and travel unnoticed.

The designation is often shortened in conversation to “T-800,” which refers to the machine’s series or model family. “Model 101” refers more specifically to the physical appearance used by this particular unit. This distinction can cause confusion because the films and reference works do not always use the labels in exactly the same way.

The Terminator was released in 1984 and established the franchise’s central conflict between Skynet’s machines and the human Resistance. The same basic character returns in several later films, although the story sometimes presents him as a reprogrammed protector rather than an assassin.