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Enquiries/Recommendations Illegear Raven 7 Day Impression Review, Based on a Gamer Girl's Opinion

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7cantona
post May 10 2019, 12:57 PM

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QUOTE(mpenziwe @ Feb 10 2018, 07:55 PM)
REVIEW: ILLEGEAR RAVEN
Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored. Just gotten my new laptop and first time writing a review. Don’t bash my writing. XD

Malaysian just loves a good deal don’t they? In this case, Illegear Raven seems to prove a point. This laptop has becomes so darn enticing with its flashing neon colorful keyboard. As my current laptop grows old and forgotten by recently launched games, I can’t help but wonder if I should invest in a machine and actually forgetting I have a job to go to after I start playing on such competent specs for the newest games with awesome, awesome graphics!!!

Anyhow, I’ve managed to gotten ahold of an Illegear Raven with the following specs:-

Display: 15.6" Full HD Anti-glare Display featuring IPS / AHVA Wide Color & Wide View (1920 x 1080)
Processor: 7th Gen. Intel® Core™ i5-7300HQ (6MB Cache, 2.50GHz to 3.50GHz)
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5 with Optimus (Pascal)
Keyboard: Mechanical N-Key Rollover Gaming Keyboard with Per-key RGB
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM 2400MHz - 1 X 8GB
1st M.2 Solid State Drive: 128GB Samsung PM961 M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
2nd M.2 Solid State Drive: None
1st 2.5" SATA Drive: 1TB 7200rpm Hitachi Hard Drive
2nd M.2 Solid State Drive: None
Wireless Network Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 2x2 M.2 - WLAN & Bluetooth 4.2 Combo
Operating System: Windows 10 Home Single Language 64-Bit Edition
Accessories: ILLEGEAR Velvet Sleeve, Power Cord & 150W AC Adapter

EXTERIOR
Design and built
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The design of the Raven is quite simple and there was really nothing to shout about. I was glad to point out at this moment that Illegear actually removed the red strips design from the top section of the keyboard and it’d actually looked a lot better without it. The entirely black colored laptop is now presentable for office use.
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Overall, the design is acceptable for entry-level gaming laptop in my opinion. The laptop looks of a matte UV body with aluminum feel on back cover but it is actually much sturdier than it actually looks.

Display
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Generally, the display is quite bright. There was an option for a 4K screen which will be glossy instead of matte. For practical gaming, matte seems to be the better option as the glossy screen will be reflective of what’s going behind which distracts me during a game. However, for design purposes, 4K screen offers the higher resolution which can be beneficial for designers. Too bad I’m not one.
Another feature for Illegear’s laptops are their option for Professional Color Calibration. I’ve found out that we can actually switch between the default color profile that comes with Windows and Illegear’s calibrated color profile. Surprisingly, I prefer the much vibrant feel coming from Illegear’s color profile rather than a duller and warmer lighting of the default profile. Something to consider getting as an option.

Keyboard
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I really have no words for the per-key RGB mechanical keyboard. Never seen anything like this. I guess these features are usually out of my budget range.
After going through the configurations, I found all the different effects and the colorful options really lovely. And it really, really makes my day feels a lot more brighter. It’s a girl’s thing.
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Utilizing the per key RGB keyboard for my basic gaming keys configuration. Looks awesome doesn’t it?
Typing wise, the tickity tack sounds of the keyboard makes it fun to actually type long long long contents. However, I totally wouldn’t advise it if you work in a pin drop silent office. You can’t imagine the looks you get alllll day. 
I was told that there is a Version 2 of the keyboard but it seems like the sides of the keys does not emit LED lights like my current one. In that sense, I believe the new version will be well suited for professionals who do not prefer the flashy keyboard.

Touchpad
Design of the touchpad is quite interesting. Feels like I could use it as a compartment or some sort for all my knick knacks like pins and paper clips. Now that’s practical! The feel of the pad itself is quite average even though it is quite responsive.

Speakers
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Tried plenty of sounds through Raven’s speakers. Everything sounds crisp clear. Have heard of several complaints on the soft volume. However, I actually didn’t find it soft at all. Perhaps I’m in a quiet room but it makes sense that if I’m actually in a noisy environment, I tend to go for my earphones anyways. So it didn’t really reduce the points for me.

Cooling
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I noticed that there are 2 vents at the rear section of the laptop. They are pretty cool looking and they seem to function well during games. However, the fan can be quite obvious. I have actually heard louder ones. I guess I can’t really compare it though since my previous laptop isn’t a gaming laptop. But really, it doesn’t bother me too much since I use headphones during gaming.

PERFORMANCE
Gaming
I’ve tried my favourite game on the Raven. Overwatch!!! It is the first freaking time that I see such detailed graphics for this game. On my previous laptop, I had to compromise my settings to the lowest and you can never get to see all that details and little things in the maps. With this graphic card, I became sooo engrossed in exploring the maps as if seeing it for the first time again. HAHA.
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Performance-wise, I really have no complains. It is not lag at all and no screen tearing. None of that means I can actually play A LOT better. Success rate 100%
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Fan is running quite softly eventhough I have played for hours. The laptop also felt only a slight tinge of warmness on the top section but I find that the cooling system actually quite satisfying.

Youtube
I actually go on YouTube and iFlix a lot but seems like there were no bad experiences at all whilst youtubing or watching movies on the Raven. Good to go in this part. 

Multitask
I tried multitasking with 3 applications at one time including Overwatch, streaming using OBS Studio and Installation of Dynasty Warriors 8. The memory was around 62%, CPU 12% and GPU 29%. Overall, seems like it is processing power is quite sufficient for my terms of heavy usage.

ACCESSORIES
Fang Mouse
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The feel of the mouse shape feels odd at first. But somehow, it manages to feel alright after some time. Loved the RGB on the design very much but too bad the colours doesn’t sync with the keyboard. If they added that feature in, it will become even more AWESOME! The mouse is quite affordable for its high specifications. Would definitely recommend this to others.

Backpack
Impressive built of the backpack even though I wasn’t expecting it. Design is simple but zippers on the front are useful. As a female who brings a lot of stuff in her purse, this backpack is very adequate for my usage.

Sleeve
The velvet sleeve seems to be sewed together quite nicely. May have a rough headstart to put the sleeve on and off. Probably because I don’t usually use one. Wait, normally we don't even get one when purchasing new laptop. That's nice of Illegear to give us something so useful to take care of the laptop. Especially when I'm so clumsy. Haha. I really started appreciating the practically of the sleeve to actually prevent my laptop from collecting dust. smile.gif

[Updated on 20/02/2018]
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can u do a updated review ?
like how is the condition of the laptop after 1 year plus ?

thks in advance
7cantona
post May 10 2019, 01:16 PM

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QUOTE(AZIM@ILLEGEAR @ Jan 15 2019, 12:55 PM)
Hi jrrsim Yes, Raven is portable for Uni usage, as it is quite a popular laptop model among students and it is also budget friendly high performance laptop as well. Raven weights at about 2.2KG inclusive of RAM, SSD, HDD and the built-in battery, with 15.6 inch screen and form factor. You may customize the configuration of the Raven laptop according to your own preferences to suit to your needs as well. Below is the link to our official webstore as we are currently having Back To School sales promotion until 26th January 2019.

https://store.illegear.com/high-performance...gear-raven.html

We do have another recommendation as well if you are looking into portability on laptops. Which is the ILLEGEAR Onyx model. Onyx features 15.6 inch INFINIVISION Bezel-less Technology display with 14 inch form factor of a laptop and it weights at around 1.95KG inclusive of RAM, SSD, HDD and battery as well. Below is the link to ILLEGEAR Onyx and you may learn more on the configuration of Onyx through the link given.

https://store.illegear.com/performance-acce...egear-onyx.html
Hi eevess For the first configuration, it does not have a M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) but it has a 1TB HDD, which the Windows Operating System will be installed into it, and it also acts a storage drive as well. Every processes you perform will be in the 1TB HDD. In addition, speed of traditional HDD is known to not be as fast as SSD regarding on the read/write speed.

For the second configuration, it does has 256GB M.2 SSD and Windows OS will be installed into the SSD. The boot up speed will be faster by seconds comparing SSD to a traditional HDD. Hence, it is recommend to have SSD installed in any operating laptops and desktops. In addition, loading speed for softwares, games and rendering will be faster as well. Then, when SSD is installed, the HDD or Seagate Firecuda Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD) can be as a secondary storage drive, which you can use for backing up files and more.

Comparing SSHD to HDD, SSHD have better performance comparing to HDD in terms of read/write & boot up speed and reliability as well. The FireCuda SSHD 2.5-inch flash-accelerated hard drives are performance-tuned to draw less power than competitors’ offerings. Reducing power consumption and heat generation helps increase system performance and improve durability, especially when playing games and running multiple applications.
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so thats what SSD do nod.gif great explanation thumbsup.gif thumbup.gif
7cantona
post May 12 2019, 12:27 AM

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QUOTE(mpenziwe @ May 11 2019, 06:38 PM)
The laptop is still performing very well, no major quirks to report here biggrin.gif

I wanted to send in the laptop to Illegear for dust cleaning but I've no time to do so. Even though the machine is getting a bit dusty now, I have yet to experience any heating issues with the laptop, which is a huge plus for me.

I can say that the looks have aged quite a bit (design-wise) but there's no notable flaw as per my usage. I'm now eyeing towards the new Prodigy model from them as well, looks very sleek IMO!  cool2.gif
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good to know that thumbsup.gif reliability quite important to me

Illegear provide dust cleaning service ? blink.gif didnt know that wink.gif

they got Promotion until 18 May 2019 too, nice price thumbup.gif

nice that malaysia got a pretty good n reasonbly priced laptop company thumbsup.gif
7cantona
post May 15 2019, 06:10 PM

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QUOTE(dylan_chng @ May 15 2019, 03:37 PM)
Hi. This thread seems to be the most active regarding about Raven. I myself own a Raven. If any readers have questions about Raven ownership, I can try to answer.
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hi, so how old is ur raven ?
is reliability an issue ?
7cantona
post May 15 2019, 06:27 PM

On my way
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QUOTE(dylan_chng @ May 15 2019, 06:19 PM)
about 10 weeks old
reliability is not an issue. Only issue so far for me is the Raven Command Centre.
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okay , i see smile.gif

each model got own Command Centre ? not 1 under illegear ?
7cantona
post May 16 2019, 02:51 AM

On my way
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QUOTE(dylan_chng @ May 15 2019, 08:25 PM)
each  model got own command centre however some models share command centre with other models from Illegear if not mistaken.
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ok, i see hmm.gif
so u satisfy with ur Illegear ?
7cantona
post May 18 2019, 01:53 AM

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QUOTE(dylan_chng @ May 16 2019, 01:17 PM)
Yeap. I'm satisfy with my my Illegear.
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considering buying 1 wink.gif
7cantona
post Aug 8 2019, 02:50 AM

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QUOTE(csyoong @ Aug 7 2019, 04:57 PM)
I would not recommend this laptop based on my 1 year experience of using it.
First off, while it might look cool having mechanical keyboard on laptop, the tactile feel is odd IMHO .I often accidentally "hooked" off the other keyboard keys as i typing as the key is thin and quite oddly elevated off the base.

Next, I personally feel the quality of the hardware is not on par to what you get from other brand(similar specs) particularly on the keyboard itself. I have claimed my warranty twice in 1 YEAR  and looking for the third if i find the current problem is not from software. 1st issue is that my backspace and a few surrounding  buttons self-trigger when the GPU temperature is high. 2nd issue(even worse) is the entire keyboard unable to work(including RGB lighting). The current issues i am having is my 1st row of buttons (F1 - Pg Dw excluding a few ) are faulty as it cannot trigger any of the button without pressing thw neighbour button. My laptop had failed to detect any wifi despite i reinstall the driver.

Lastly, while there is nothing personal against illegear customer service, unless I stays in KL(I am in East Malaysia), i will not look forward to their product anymore since i spent a lot of time, effort and money just to claim the warranty.
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blink.gif claimed warranty twice, thats more than bad luck d blink.gif
thanks 4 telling me all that notworthy.gif

i will research more

 

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