$3, 000 Laptop from 1988 - The Rebuilt Chaplet Halikan LA-30A
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Date: 2026-03-07
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Comments and reviews: 20
gehtdichnixan1337
I had an Olivetti Echos P75 laptop in the early 00s as an experimenting rig. Have to say the plastics hadn't improved much from this late 80s Chaplet, as even by that point, there were already cracks all over the case after just 10 years since release or so (at the hinges, at every sharp corner, at every screw post, all plastic covers had cracked and fallen off etc.
Even if the plastics weren't an issue, the hardware itself was also really subpar. It had a Pentium 75, but NO cache whatsoever (and no way to add any via internal sockets/modules) making it painfully slow (felt more like a 33MHz 486, used odd 72pin FPM laptop RAM (without notches) which was already hard to get back then (and EDO modules didn't work, had a DSTN color screen with tons of ghosting (even more than the Toshiba DSTNs I was used to, the keyboard was REALLY mushy and bad (made those early grey 486/Pentium Toshibas seem like heaven in comparison) and in the end it succumbed to weird power issues, as it would turn on but not POST more often than not. The only positive thing about it was that the CPU was passively cooled, and also socketed (regular socket 7 desktop P75, which probably didn't help battery runtime any lol)
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I had an Olivetti Echos P75 laptop in the early 00s as an experimenting rig. Have to say the plastics hadn't improved much from this late 80s Chaplet, as even by that point, there were already cracks all over the case after just 10 years since release or so (at the hinges, at every sharp corner, at every screw post, all plastic covers had cracked and fallen off etc.
Even if the plastics weren't an issue, the hardware itself was also really subpar. It had a Pentium 75, but NO cache whatsoever (and no way to add any via internal sockets/modules) making it painfully slow (felt more like a 33MHz 486, used odd 72pin FPM laptop RAM (without notches) which was already hard to get back then (and EDO modules didn't work, had a DSTN color screen with tons of ghosting (even more than the Toshiba DSTNs I was used to, the keyboard was REALLY mushy and bad (made those early grey 486/Pentium Toshibas seem like heaven in comparison) and in the end it succumbed to weird power issues, as it would turn on but not POST more often than not. The only positive thing about it was that the CPU was passively cooled, and also socketed (regular socket 7 desktop P75, which probably didn't help battery runtime any lol)
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hobbified
13: 10 the Toshiba T1200 also had a hard drive power switch, for the same reason. If you try to access the disk while it's turned off you get the traditional Abort/Retry/Fail message, and turning it back on and hitting Retry will generally let you get going again.
The T1200 also let you use the upper 384kB of RAM (it came with 1MB, non-expandable) as a battery-backed ramdisk, and the manual pointed out the synergy between that and the hard drive switch: you could copy whatever you were working on to ramdisk, turn off the hard drive, and then copy it back when you were done.
All sounds a little primitive in 2026 but they were doing their best to make the machine more useful!
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13: 10 the Toshiba T1200 also had a hard drive power switch, for the same reason. If you try to access the disk while it's turned off you get the traditional Abort/Retry/Fail message, and turning it back on and hitting Retry will generally let you get going again.
The T1200 also let you use the upper 384kB of RAM (it came with 1MB, non-expandable) as a battery-backed ramdisk, and the manual pointed out the synergy between that and the hard drive switch: you could copy whatever you were working on to ramdisk, turn off the hard drive, and then copy it back when you were done.
All sounds a little primitive in 2026 but they were doing their best to make the machine more useful!
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DarkLitUniverse
Looks like it was suffering from Gold Plastic Syndrome. Bit of a misnomer since it clearly didn't have any gold plastic, but it can effect other plastics as well. Basically causes the entire plastic piece to become extremely brittle and I don't believe anyone knows what causes it. Personally the only thing I've owned that's got hit by it was an old generic store video game case that became so brittle that you could poke holes in it with just a slight touch. In case you're wondering about the name, it comes from the Transformers community as many of the old, gold colored toys suffer from it.
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Looks like it was suffering from Gold Plastic Syndrome. Bit of a misnomer since it clearly didn't have any gold plastic, but it can effect other plastics as well. Basically causes the entire plastic piece to become extremely brittle and I don't believe anyone knows what causes it. Personally the only thing I've owned that's got hit by it was an old generic store video game case that became so brittle that you could poke holes in it with just a slight touch. In case you're wondering about the name, it comes from the Transformers community as many of the old, gold colored toys suffer from it.
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slicked9778
I bet you were king shit if you had things like this back in the day. I still remember my uncle who worked at state street at the time had a blackberry when I was a kid and it's all I thought about for like a year and then every so often when I'd see the adverts for blackberry. it just amazed me because at the time nokia phones were about as good as you got so a phone with a full keyboard was insane to me.
my cousin (his son) had a PDA that could control the tv, and I learned how to install and kick around in linux from my cousin as well.
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I bet you were king shit if you had things like this back in the day. I still remember my uncle who worked at state street at the time had a blackberry when I was a kid and it's all I thought about for like a year and then every so often when I'd see the adverts for blackberry. it just amazed me because at the time nokia phones were about as good as you got so a phone with a full keyboard was insane to me.
my cousin (his son) had a PDA that could control the tv, and I learned how to install and kick around in linux from my cousin as well.
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Dragnerok_X
I was gifted a Halikan LA-30A from a friend who found it at a garage sale in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Sadly, it was non-functional by that point, with either a bad power supply or bad motherboard, as I couldn't squeeze any sign of life from it beyond getting the obnoxiously loud fan to spin. The plastic had yet to succumb to peanut brittle syndrome, and it was one of the higher-end varieties with the onboard HDD. Most tragically, I made the mistake of e-wasting it after my efforts proved fruitless, complete manual, carrying bag, and all.
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I was gifted a Halikan LA-30A from a friend who found it at a garage sale in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Sadly, it was non-functional by that point, with either a bad power supply or bad motherboard, as I couldn't squeeze any sign of life from it beyond getting the obnoxiously loud fan to spin. The plastic had yet to succumb to peanut brittle syndrome, and it was one of the higher-end varieties with the onboard HDD. Most tragically, I made the mistake of e-wasting it after my efforts proved fruitless, complete manual, carrying bag, and all.
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MultiGameSystem
That thin piece of wood laminate would look better if glued to a thin piece of rigid plastic. Also probably warping due to heat and moisture. The plastic backing piece would prevent that issue if glued properly. Maybe a bit of matte clear over the painted printed parts to make it look more like plastic. Also a bit of varnish or semi gloss resin on the wood veneer would make it look more finished.
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That thin piece of wood laminate would look better if glued to a thin piece of rigid plastic. Also probably warping due to heat and moisture. The plastic backing piece would prevent that issue if glued properly. Maybe a bit of matte clear over the painted printed parts to make it look more like plastic. Also a bit of varnish or semi gloss resin on the wood veneer would make it look more finished.
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CptFitzgerald
This was taking an item of rarity and turning it into a true one of a kind specialty like an item from Diablo or the Samurai helmet made by a legendary artisan of keeping Samurai armor crafting alive in Japan letting Ozzy Osbourne try one of his in the collection during Ozzy and Jack's visit- as Ozzy was absolutely enamored to see some from his extensive studies into ancient Fuedal Japan war history.
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This was taking an item of rarity and turning it into a true one of a kind specialty like an item from Diablo or the Samurai helmet made by a legendary artisan of keeping Samurai armor crafting alive in Japan letting Ozzy Osbourne try one of his in the collection during Ozzy and Jack's visit- as Ozzy was absolutely enamored to see some from his extensive studies into ancient Fuedal Japan war history.
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davidebucci8171
It is very interesting to learn that Chaplet used to build things for Olivetti. I have an Olivetti Echos 48 Color that is a nice laptop from the mid-90's, but the (red) plastic case is indeed becoming very brittle. About one year ago, one of the hinges completely broke when I closed the display. I could glue the parts back together, but it is clear that things are becoming gradually worse.
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It is very interesting to learn that Chaplet used to build things for Olivetti. I have an Olivetti Echos 48 Color that is a nice laptop from the mid-90's, but the (red) plastic case is indeed becoming very brittle. About one year ago, one of the hinges completely broke when I closed the display. I could glue the parts back together, but it is clear that things are becoming gradually worse.
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Jerbod2
Amazing collab, great to see this thing lives!
Clint, you're awesome. We live halfway across the world but otherwise you'd have a like minded friend in me for sure. I'm not as techie as you, but man do I love obscure stuff even if it has no use just for its weirdness alone. Goes for anything, sometimes something is so ugly that I love it and I gotta mess with it.
Stay awesome.
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Amazing collab, great to see this thing lives!
Clint, you're awesome. We live halfway across the world but otherwise you'd have a like minded friend in me for sure. I'm not as techie as you, but man do I love obscure stuff even if it has no use just for its weirdness alone. Goes for anything, sometimes something is so ugly that I love it and I gotta mess with it.
Stay awesome.
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TomyblueHMS
I have a 386 Laptop with similar problems - got it and it seems in absolutely fantastic condition. until I had the insolence open it up to clean, and especially removing the slightly swollen old battery - proceeded to snap several sections of brittle grey plastic: / Is now put away until I have the 'umph to 3D print some replacements! . maybe in clear PETG
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I have a 386 Laptop with similar problems - got it and it seems in absolutely fantastic condition. until I had the insolence open it up to clean, and especially removing the slightly swollen old battery - proceeded to snap several sections of brittle grey plastic: / Is now put away until I have the 'umph to 3D print some replacements! . maybe in clear PETG
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MrSirViking
When i saw the original video of this unboxing. And i have never seen plastics be so bad. It was literally all just braking even just by looking at it. Also saw Matt's video on this, really good work on this computer. And the computer itself is awesome as well. It still amazes me what could be done with technology back then.
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When i saw the original video of this unboxing. And i have never seen plastics be so bad. It was literally all just braking even just by looking at it. Also saw Matt's video on this, really good work on this computer. And the computer itself is awesome as well. It still amazes me what could be done with technology back then.
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Mark-Lebowitz
9: 35, Eh, it's a late '80s business laptop. - LOL! In the late 1980s, laptops were so expensive and so underpowered compared to desktops that almost nobody other than businesspeople who needed a portable computer bought them. That is to say, pretty much all late '80s laptops were business laptops.
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9: 35, Eh, it's a late '80s business laptop. - LOL! In the late 1980s, laptops were so expensive and so underpowered compared to desktops that almost nobody other than businesspeople who needed a portable computer bought them. That is to say, pretty much all late '80s laptops were business laptops.
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kengetkamulos
It is really nice seeing that LGR went through all the troubles recently and is still coming back stronger than ever, doing the best content its ever did and still having fun and entertainment content. It really shows that nothing can stop this man - great comeback! Amazing resilience!
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It is really nice seeing that LGR went through all the troubles recently and is still coming back stronger than ever, doing the best content its ever did and still having fun and entertainment content. It really shows that nothing can stop this man - great comeback! Amazing resilience!
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brodie7013
Just watched the PolyMatt video after seeing this when it came out. Great to see this laptop get the fix it deserved. I had the same thing happen to me after finding a near mint Zenith zwl-183 and getting it in pieces, sadly none of the internals survived shipping either.
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Just watched the PolyMatt video after seeing this when it came out. Great to see this laptop get the fix it deserved. I had the same thing happen to me after finding a near mint Zenith zwl-183 and getting it in pieces, sadly none of the internals survived shipping either.
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tcaldwe
I have had some crazy Sager (ODM) designs when I worked at the HWCL lab at Microsoft. Anytime we got a BSOD we had to try and repro it and that required having a huge library of hardware. I recall seeing some really old gear in the archives I wonder if it's still there.
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I have had some crazy Sager (ODM) designs when I worked at the HWCL lab at Microsoft. Anytime we got a BSOD we had to try and repro it and that required having a huge library of hardware. I recall seeing some really old gear in the archives I wonder if it's still there.
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Stratopeter87
14: 28 Love that it has a light-/darkmode switch way before this was a thing, even as a real/physical button. I also somehow really like the HALIKAN logo, it has this retro-futuristic aesthetic and I wonder if it is a known typeface or some custom design.
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14: 28 Love that it has a light-/darkmode switch way before this was a thing, even as a real/physical button. I also somehow really like the HALIKAN logo, it has this retro-futuristic aesthetic and I wonder if it is a known typeface or some custom design.
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af394
Holy shit! I accidentally bought this cool, old logitech mouse on ebay without looking closely, thinking it was ps/2. It is the 9-pin mini and I can't find anything online on adapters for other connectors. It's so cool to see a machine that actually uses it!
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Holy shit! I accidentally bought this cool, old logitech mouse on ebay without looking closely, thinking it was ps/2. It is the 9-pin mini and I can't find anything online on adapters for other connectors. It's so cool to see a machine that actually uses it!
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lazygamereviews
I bought a Microsoft Internet Keyboard for a sleeper build im doing next year, (it was the wrong kind of keyboard) but i decided to keep it. Ive typed on it, and it feels real good to type on. Could you do a Video on that keyboard model
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I bought a Microsoft Internet Keyboard for a sleeper build im doing next year, (it was the wrong kind of keyboard) but i decided to keep it. Ive typed on it, and it feels real good to type on. Could you do a Video on that keyboard model
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SkiBumMSP
So glad to finally get to see this! I watched this whole saga, including the Polymatt video showing the full restoration (definitely worth a watch. Nice to see this rare and historical piece of computing working almost like new again.
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So glad to finally get to see this! I watched this whole saga, including the Polymatt video showing the full restoration (definitely worth a watch. Nice to see this rare and historical piece of computing working almost like new again.
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RynoDBones
I had something very very similar to this, at least in design and hardware in 97. Got it at an auction for my girlfriend at the time for about $50 so she could type her essays without fighting her sister for their main computer.
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I had something very very similar to this, at least in design and hardware in 97. Got it at an auction for my girlfriend at the time for about $50 so she could type her essays without fighting her sister for their main computer.
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