The equation as well as the delicious pun associated with it, it all makes sense in context.
And we all thank the late LARRY SHAW for encouraging the puns since 1988.
So to take advantage of the pun, how's about a story about the origins of COMPAQ.
Now COMPAQ is no longer with us as HP bought the company in 2002 and discontinued the name in 2013 in favor of using their own Pavilion, ENVY, OMEN names, etc.
But the story of how this former industry giant was formed in quite interesting indeed.
The story goes that 3 disgruntled TEXAS INSTRUMENTS senior managers who go by
ROD CANION,
JIM HARRIS,
and BILL MURTO
left TEXAS INSTRUMENTS in 1982 due to lack of faith and loss of confidence.
Aside from a failed attempt to start a chain of Mexican styled restaurants, the three decide to start their own computer company.
While in the planning stages for their first computer, which would be the COMPAQ PORTABLE,
the three had a luncheon at the HOUSE OF PIES
During the design phase of COMPAQ PORTABLE, the design plans for the computer were drawn on the back of a placemat
Believe it or not, THE HOUSE OF PIES is still open to this day despite the change of times as well as the restaurant having to fight tooth and nail to remain in operational service during and after the pandemic.
Ever since that fateful luncheon, COMPAQ grew exponentially during the better part of the 1980s and into the 1990s as king of IBM COMPATIBLE manufacturers.
Up until HP snatched up COMPAQ and usurped the name into their line of Computers until HP Decided to discontinue the name in 2013.... at least for NORTH AMERICA.
Now as for my experiences with COMPAQ computers, I actually had a Presario way back when I was a toddler in 1999.
That thing you see above this sentence was my very first computer I ever used when I was just 1 and a half.
Fast forward about 10 years later in 2009 when I was 11, I got a job at this Computer Repair outlet called REBOOT.
While working at storage, I stumbled upon this bigass Computer that looked like a cross between a briefcase and SINGER BRAND luggable Sewing machine.
It was a Compaq Portable, Green Phosphor Display and 5.25" Floppy Drive and all.
It only worked for one day that time I visited but the next day I demoed the machine, it stopped working.
The fan and display worked, but all we saw was a blinking cursor, so that indicated that the COMPAQ PORTABLE suffered a RAM failure.
Now here's something a bit unrelated but is something to satisfy my own personal head canon.
I was watching an episode of DOUG, specifically the one where the Funnie Family gets their first Computer installed in the living room....
(FYI, I watched on Disney+ and Captured on my AVERMEDIA LiveGamer 2Plus)
It could have been a rebadged COMPAQ PRESARIO from 1999 for all I know.
Then Theda asks whether Phil should have had the PC configured to have an additional 128MB of PC100 Ram, 2GB Hard Drive, an upgradable CPU and Zip Drive,
well.... here's my take on that line of dialogue.
128MB of PC100 or DDR Ram was indeed desirable in 1999, especially at a time when PCs usually shipped with either 32mb or 64mb of Ram installed from the factory.
A 2GB HDD in 1999?
Ok, so maybe it already had a 2GB installed which may have been standard in 1999 but that's somewhat miniscule even at that time when most PCs in 1999 can go up to 10GB or more installed in 1999.
LGR's COMPAQ PRESARIO 5000US from 2001 came with a 30GB HDD for crying out loud so really the blame for that 2GB HDD line of dialogue should be blamed on writer Bernie Denk.
AN UPGRADEBALE CPU on the other hand..... well this was 1999 when the Pentium III and AMD Athlon Specification were brand new so I have a hunch that Theda was hoping the motherboard wasn't of the SLOT 1 variety unless the computer had a Celeron that she didn't want and would have preferred a PENTIUM III Cartridge.
So yeah, in 1999, the Power Portal 2000 may have been equipped with a 300mhz Celeron which would warrant a 600mhz Pentium III.
And while a ZIP Drive was considered a desire in 1999, I don't know if Theda was talking about the internal or External ZIP Drives.
Whatever.
My head canon: THE POWER PORTAL PC 2000 is really just a rebadged PRESARIO.
But regardless, the choice of COMPAQ is admirable since I know how nostalgic people are about COMPAQ Presario's, especially with the ones from the 90s.
For me, I only had my COMAPAQ for about a year and a half before my dad replaced it with a
VOBIS HIGHSCREEN in 2000
and that was eventually replaced 5 years later with my MDG Horizon PC in 2005
After 3 Laptops, I eventually built my own machines and right now, I'm on my
MAVERICK FALCON 7900RT PC that I've built.
Here are the SPECs for my PC:
And it's been recently updated to include the fact that I've swapped out the Wisteria Switches out of my EPOMAKER KEYBOARD.
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