Lappy 486

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Revision as of 22:05, 18 December 2006

"Now that is a classy start-up noise!"

The Lappy 486 is Strong Bad's third and current computer, and is manufactured by Compy, Inc. It utilizes a more modern email client which includes a subject line, a reply panel, and the following easy-access buttons: Reply, Forward, Delete, Save, Computer, and Image. (Delete, Save, Computer, and Image are usually hidden behind Strong Bad's head.) However, all of it disappears when Strong Bad clears the screen to continue typing.

The Lappy's logo.

The Lappy seems to be Strong Bad's favorite computer to date, as evidenced by how highly he speaks of it in animal. Strong Bad describes its startup noise as "classy". His attempt to repeat it is quite out of tune.

Unlike the Compy 386 and the Tandy 400, no emails have been DELETED on this computer yet. It can flash a DO OVER!! screen with an explosion effect, as seen in do over.

Quick Facts

The back of the Lappy 486 from isp.

Debut: First seen in "animal." First mentioned by The Brothers Chaps in the "invisibility" DVD commentary.

Interactive Feature: Clicking on the Lappy's screen simulates the effect seen on LCD Monitors: applied force moves the liquid inside (a Liquid Crystal Display), causing a "wave" of distorted colors. Whenever the Lappy 486 is seen in an email or toon, the screen can be clicked to get the effect that is similar on most LCD flat panel monitors. The circle matches the color of what is in the reflection (i.e. red for Strong Bad's head, green for Strong Bad's eyes, etc.). This is also Strong Bad's first computer without contrast buttons besides the Polish Block.

Font: Glitch0

Screen Ratio: 1.67:1 (width:height) or 5:3, as opposed to a normal screen of 1.3:1 (4:3), a high-definition screen of 1.78:1 (16:9), and a widescreen of 1.85:1.

Features

Features of the Lappy 486.

• 42 pounds!! (19 kilograms—"Extremely portable", according to Strong Bad)
• 2MB Hard Drive! (Later said to be 5MB, as of retirement)
• "Several" Color Monitor
• Warning: Five Minute Battery Life (Strong Bad said it is "One half of ten minutes"—evidence shown in part-time job)
• 512K RAM (0.5 MB)
• "Finally, a computer for your lap!"—Compy
• Although never mentioned, the Lappy may support a wireless internet connection. In isp, we can see that Strong Bad does not use the Lappy's Ethernet socket.

Colors

Lappy 486's email client.

The screen boasts "several" colors in the email animal. The number of colors present suggest that the Lappy 486 uses at least a VGA display.

• Black: background color
• White: text
• Blue: email client title bar, shortcut keys, and rolling over emails titles on the menu, Edgar's Baby's Daddy
• Magenta: (pink) Lappy 486 logo
• Dark Magenta: Lappy 486 logo (outline of magenta)
• Cyan: (aqua) Lappy 486 logo
• Dark Cyan: Lappy 486 logo (outline of cyan)
• Yellow: Lappy 486 logo
• Dark Yellow: Lappy 486 logo (outline of yellow)
• Gold: encore Easter egg in the email rock opera
• Puke Green: "bread sing-alongs" in the email origins
• Red: new emails, do over, Edgar's Baby's Daddy
• Dark Red: Edgar's Baby's Daddy (outline of red)
• Peach: the face of Edga Jr.
• Orange: the hair of Edga Jr.
• Sky blue: the shirt of Edga Jr.
• Gray: scrollbar color, Edga Jr. picture table outline
• Salmon: the words 'a girl', 'really', and 'relatively' in bottom 10
• Dark Green: the "de" words in death metal
• Video colors: the explosion effect in do over, the webcam in death metal
• Creamy white: the computer on the downloading screen in isp
• Light brown: the "not really break dancing" rat, also in isp
• Teal: The background of the "Teal Screen of Near Death" in retirement

Programs

Strong Bad checks his email.

Some of the programs Strong Bad has on the Lappy 486, most of which are started by typing the filename only after the prompt:

• strongbad_email.exe - emails 119-current, except email 142 (secret identity) (see below) and emails 159 (retirement) (which were checked on the Tandy and the Compy respectively)
• run "Edga Jr." (long pants) - filters emails with indents
• run "webcam" (death metal) - initiates live video chat with Larry Palaroncini
• strongbad_email.wad (secret identity) - Strong Bad inexplicably types this to access his email (DOS usually does not recognize WAD files as executables).
• screen_savior.exe (technology) - runs an infinitely repeating 3D Maze screensaver with poor graphics
• Edgar's Baby's Daddy (filename unknown) (candy product) - Filters emails from Homestar Runner

The Real Computer

The "real" Lappy, as seen in Real-Live E-Mails.

The 486 was actually a real processor made by Intel. It was quite similar to the 386 processor from a software standpoint, but was considerably faster.

The Lappy seems to be inspired by the Mac Portable, a 16-pound transportable Macintosh that sold poorly.

The "real" Lappy (pictured) is an old Compaq LTE series laptop.

The Lappy 486's prompt, a closing square bracket, was also used by the Apple II series of computers, although MS-DOS could be configured to produce this prompt.

Lappy-napping

"I coulda sworn one of you guys liked hushpuppies."

At the end of cliffhangers, the Lappy was stolen. The perpetrators left behind a ransom note stating "i got your Lappy" along with the Lappy's severed "toe" (the "< ," key). After searching for his missing computer in Missing Lappy, Strong Bad discovered that the Tandy 400 and the Compy 386 had kidnapped the Lappy so that Strong Bad would answer one last email on each of them. Strong Bad answered the Tandy and the Compy's last emails in retirement, and in the process destroyed both of them and redeemed the Lappy. Strong Bad took his favorite fold-em-up computer out to get hushpuppies, with the restored, at-peace ghosts and The Paper following along in harmony.

Female Lappy 486

Strong Bad's looking prooty hot.

The Female Lappy 486 appears in Strong Bad's dream email in dreamail. She's basically the Lappy 486 logo with blonde hair and makeup. She appears when Strong Bad starts up the Lappy, telling him that he's "looking prooty hot". Female Lappy 486 fawns over Strong Bad for his reply to an e-mail ("Well played, Strong Bad. Those ladies are sure to be all up ons."). After Strong Bad flies away at the end of the e-mail, she appears in an Easter egg, telling Strong Bad not to fly, that's she's worried about him, and that she can see the strings which are holding him above ground. Apparently, she seems to rely on Strong Bad.

The monitor of Female Lappy 486 is bordered with a gold chain bearing the phrase, "MY LAPPY ATE YOUR DOG" inscribed on top.

It has since then appeared on the normal Lappy, suggesting that it is an actual feature of it.

Female Lappy 486 frequently makes spelling and grammar mistakes ("prooty hot", "one unread messages" "is understairs" and "tell whim I love"), and speaks with a voice which sounds somewhat like a computer voice synthesizer.

Appearances

• Debut: Email dreamail
• Email rock opera (voice)
• strongbad_email.exe Disc Four Main Menu
• Sbemail 150?!?
• Missing Lappy
• Email retirement (voice)