Perhaps I should clarify rather than change my tune. Hard IFR would
imply to me that you are flying under IFR. When the FAA says "under
IFR", I take that to mean you are filed - regardless of whether the
conditions warrant it. But an being on an IFR flight plan would not
necessarily imply that the conditions are IMC.

So, yeah - you could be flying an IFR plan(i.e. "under IFR") with
perfectly good VFR conditions. The reg would indicate that *any*time
you are on an IFR plan (i.e. "under IFR"), regardless of the weather,
you can't use portable electronics. My original comment about not
being able to use the laptop while in "hard IFR" implied that you are
flying on an IFR plan (i.e. "under IFR"), hence under IFR regs and
could not therefore legally use it.