I remember it having a fantastic feel to it for being plastic. Other than that though, things like this were about having a system that you could write on without having to worry about battery life. Laptops were more expensive back then (oh man, I finally feel 31).

Currently to take notes in class, I use a 2008 MacBook Pro running Manjaro w/ i3wm. I try to copy the instructors talking points with shorthand.