Slightly off-topic, but the only time I've ever used Windows 3.1 (beyond the odd virtualization experiment every once in a while) was on a laptop with a passive-matrix monochrome LCD, so seeing this OS in color always feels a bit wrong to me.
I think it was a Compaq LTE Lite, likely an early model. It was a relative's device (he's working in the insurance industry) and I was only toying around with it in the late '90s, when it was already obsolete.
Researching this laptop, I found a hilarious contemporary ad that is very full of itself and pulls no punches against the competitors:
These were very expensive, like all laptops at the time, so it's no surprise it's shown being used by executives. I'm impressed by how many now common features it already had. I think they aren't showing the cheapest variant with the passive-matrix display in this video, which looked very dim and unpleasant.
I miss the days when computers were real MACHINES. With the CLACK of a fat button humming and buzzing to life. The whole experience was so different with much more audiovisual and haptic feedback. love it.
To be fair, that has not changed much. I have a Datacenter HDD in my desktop system and the first time powering that thing up sounded like it just shredded the plates and i’m going to be bombarded with shrapnels. But in normal operation, it makes a rather soothing (at least for me) clackety-clack sound. My other, normal desktop HDD not making any noise apart from spinning up is something that i find rather irritating tbh.
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