Lappy 486

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

The Lappy's logo.

The Lappy 486 (often referred to as Lappy) was Strong Bad's third computer. The Lappy was the replacement for the Compy 386, which Bubs destroyed with a shotgun after it contracted over 400,000 viruses. Like its predecesor, as well as each of its permanent successors, the Lappy 486 is a product of Compy, Inc. It utilized a more modern email client that included 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 would disappear after Strong Bad would clear the screen to continue typing.

In its first email, animal, Strong Bad speaks highly of the Lappy as an introduction. He describes its startup noise as "classy" (though his attempt to repeat it is out of tune).

In animal, it is revealed that the Lappy is male, as Strong Bad says, "Let's see if this bad boy can check some emails," and tells The Paper to "come and meet [his] new brother". Despite this, the Lappy tends to appear in [#Female_Lappy_486 female form] much more often.

In addition to the usual DELETED! feature, the Lappy could also flash a "DO OVER!!" screen with an explosion effect, as seen in do over.

Despite supposedly weighing an excessive 42 pounds, Strong Bad has been seen carrying it on various occasions.

The Lappy met its demise at the end of hremail 3184 when Strong Bad preemptively blew it up with a USB self-destruct button, after checking his first email in more than half a year. It was temporarily replaced with the Corpy NT6 for the email imaginary, and permanently with the Compé beginning with the email independent.

Since Strong Bad's purchase of the Lappy, it has been released in five different colors, including Neon Tan, Gray Passion, Rodeo Beige, Italian Same, and Glittery Taupe, as seen in Compy Catalog. The Compy logo replaced the standard "Lappy 486" text on the back of the monitor.

In sbemail 206, Strong Bad began using the Lappier, which appears to be a newer version of Compy's Lappy computer line.

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 bends the polarizing filter for the display within the immediate vicinity of the force, causing varying distortions of light and dark. 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.). If you hold the mouse button or move it slightly while clicking the Lappy's screen, the effect won't move with the mouse; it will go away if you leave its circle of effect. This was also Strong Bad's first computer without contrast buttons, besides the Polish Block.

Operating System: In an interview with Strong Bad on The Screen Savers, Strong Bad states that his computer runs on an operating system known as "2S-point-Cynics 5, The Upgrade". The spelling of this was guessed, so it is not completely accurate.

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.

Emails checked on the computer: 88

Features

The Lappy 486's horribly outdated features.

• 42 pounds!! (19 kilograms—"Extremely portable" according to Strong Bad in animal; he later describes it as "allegedly portable" in technology.)
• 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)
  • In Homestar Ruiner and Strong Badia the Free, Strong Bad claims the Lappy's battery takes five to seven business days to fully charge ("The Lappy don't charge on weekends.")
• 512K RAM (0.5 MB)
• "Finally, a computer for your lap!"—Compy
• Although never mentioned, the Lappy may have supported a wireless internet connection. In part-time job, isp, Comic Book Movie, Happy Dethemberween, licensed, rated, your edge, and email thunder, it can be seen that Strong Bad does not use the Lappy's Ethernet socket.
• In the email environment, claims made about the Lappy include:
  • Every time the "enter" key is pressed, everyone else in town will temporarily lose electricity.
  • When the Lappy runs on battery power, 45 acres of rainforest are burned to the ground.
• An "Undelete" feature, shown in Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

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. There are 24 known colors:

Programs

Strong Bad checks his email.

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

• strongbad_email.exe — Used in emails 119-201 except for email 142 (secret identity) (see below), email 159 (retirement), which had two emails checked on the Tandy and the Compy, and email 169 (from work) which was checked on the Corpy NT6.
• 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 (candy product) — Filters emails from Homestar Runner. The filename is unknown.
• karatecar.exe (the movies) — An ASCII art movie played on the Lappy's screen.
• strongbad3Dtotal.wad (SBCG4AP Advertisement) — A simple 3D game featuring Strong Bad and Homestar.
• CG4AP101.wad, CG4AP102.wad, CG4AP103.wad, CG4AP104.wad, CG4AP105.wad (Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Wii Channels) — Displays the logo for Homestar Ruiner, Strong Badia the Free, Baddest of the Bands, Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, and 8-Bit is Enough respectively, and flashes up a "PRESS START" notice after a couple of seconds. Presumably also used for Strong Bad to run the games.
  • Unrelated to the previous .wad file type, these are likely in reference to the WAD file format used by WiiWare titles.
• other_gems.exe and more_other_gems.exe (being mean) — Displays other emails this email's sender, Nice Dad, has sent.
• Some type of speech synthesizer — As the Lappy speaks to Strong Bad from time to time, it would seem that there must be one installed.

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 Compaq LTE series laptop. Indeed, the "real" Lappy (pictured) is a Compaq LTE.

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 Lappynapped!, Strong Bad discovered that the Tandy 400 and the Compy 386, or what was left of them, had kidnapped the Lappy so that he would answer one last email on each of them. Strong Bad answered the Tandy's and the Compy's last emails in retirement, and in the process destroyed both of them and retrieved the Lappy. Strong Bad took his favorite "portable" computer out to get hushpuppies with the restored, at-peace ghosts of the two other computers 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 email ("Well played, Strong Bad. Those ladies are sure to be all up ons."). After Strong Bad flies away at the end of the email, 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, such as "prooty hot", "one unread messages", "is understairs", "I'm hate hushpuppies", and "tell whim I love", and speaks with a voice that sounds somewhat like a computer speech synthesizer.

Appearances

• Debut: Email dreamail
• Email rock opera (voice)
• strongbad email.exe Disc Four Main Menu
• Sbemail 150?!?
• Lappynapped!
• Email retirement (voice)
• strongbad email.exe Disc Five Main Menu
• Homestar Ruiner
• Strong Badia the Free
• Baddest of the Bands
• Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective
• 8-Bit Is Enough
• Email hremail 3184

Takeover By The King of Town

In Strong Badia the Free, after the King of Town succeeds in tricking Strong Bad into taking his castle, he uses the Lappy to check his very own emails. His email show becomes quite popular and, according to Strong Sad, Fark.com links to him every single week. Strong Bad is infuriated by this, especially after the King neglects to make fun of an email sender's name.

After finding out the King's plan, Strong Bad sends a tax via email on Creamy Ding Snack Cakes, causing an outraged King to abandon the Lappy and prepare to take his castle back. It works, and the Lappy returns to Strong Bad's possession.

The End Of The Lappy 486

The Lappy goeth into the NIIIIGHTT!

In hremail 3184, Strong Bad finally comes out of retirement to check his email again. He attempts to replace it/her with a steak sandwich, claiming it to be a computer. This attempt fails, and he allows the Lappy to live another week at least. Strong Bad goes back on his promise, as when asked what was the coolest explosion he ever saw, he revealed that the coolest explosions have come from his computers. To that end, he rigged up a USB Self-Destruct Button to the Lappy 486 and triggered it, causing an explosion, and ending the existence of the Lappy.

Appearances outside Lappy-era Emails

• Sick Day
• Sbemail 150?!?
• HomestarRunner.com PAY PLUS!
• Weclome Back
• DNA Evidence
• Happy Dethemberween
• SBCG4AP Advertisement
• Homestar Ruiner
• Strong Badia the Free
• Baddest of the Bands
• Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective
• 8-Bit is Enough
• Sbemailiarized!
• April Fool 09
• Loading Screens
• Compy Catalog features a range of brightly colored Lappies.

The following Lappy 486 emails are only available on strongbad email.exe Disc Four, Disc Five and Disc Six respectively and are outside the normal numbering scheme:

• Real-Live E-Mails
• Accent
• Comic Book Movie