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.
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.
My high school had a drafting lab, and I and a bunch of other guys would sneak in there during the lunch hour and fire up illicit games of Descent.
The rule was that the first one to successfully enter the lab would get to use the shiny 486 in there; everyone else had to use the 386s, which put them at a distinct tactical disadvantage.
