Hands-on: Haibook LGS30 Netbook for Php9,499

Netbooks have almost lost all of its charm as better and faster portable laptops have replaced them in the Php20k price category. Yet, we think there’s still some room for them left as their price category drops below the Php10,000 mark. The Haibook LGS30 netbook is among the few ones left.

The Haibook LGS30 looks like your typical netbook — it comes with a 10.2-inch LCD screen (1024×600 pixel resolution), an Atom-based processor and Windows 7 Starter OS.

While the chip is actually quite dated (released Q3 2011), the Atom D2500 is pretty capable with a 1.87GHz dual-core processor with support for RAM of up to 4GB.

The plastic body feels solid over-all although the glossy finish on the lid and the thick body seemed a bit of a turn-off.

The netbook comes complete with connectivity and ports — 2 USB ports, 1 VGA port, LAN port, audio/mic ports and an SD card slot.

The keyboard looks a bit cramped, the individual keys are a little stiff and the trackpad, while sensitive, is also narrow. The left and right click buttons are separated, flushed towards the edge and somewhat creaky.

The design and build quality of this model reminded us of the early days of the netbook and the MSI Wind series (specifically, the MSI Wind U100 from back in 2008).

Where the Haibook obviously lack is the amount of default RAM installed which is just 1GB. We were expecting at least 2GB.

Here’s the complete specifications of the netbook.

Haibook LGS30 specs:
10.2-inch LCD display
Intel Atom D2500 1.86GHz dual-core
Intel GMA 3600
1GB DDR3 RAM
160GB HDD
WiFi 802.1 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x VGA port
1 x LAN port
1 x SD card slot
2200mAh 3-cell Li-Ion Battery
Windows 7 Starter

We also noticed the netbook only has 160GB of HDD storage which is slightly below the usual 250GB to 500GB we’ve seen in other remaining netbooks in the market.

The Habook’s LCD screen has a matte finish which helps prevent excess glare on the display although that also slightly reduces the brightness.

Windows Experience Index (WEI) for the netbook is set at 3.2 for the processor, 4.5 for the RAM, 5.9 for Graphics (3.2 for Gaming) and 5.1 for the HDD.

The Haibook LGS30 is being sold by Lazada for Php9,499 which is bundled with a Rapoo 1190 wireless optical mouse and Creative SB A35 speakers. You can check out the listing here.

Editor’s Note: We are giving away this review unit to readers so check back here in a few hours for the details.