I was using a 486 in 1998 to browse the web with Opera, reading my usenet with Internet News (Forte Free Agent later on) and my mail with Pegasus Mail.<p>486s were ridiculous expensive when they came out in '89 - remember a Commodore Amiga was advanced at that time. Even when I got my 486dx-66 in '94 it was towards the top of the range for a consumer PC.