Main specs:
A few notes before reading:
1. This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here
2. This review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance
3. I will often compare this model with its smaller brother – Onyx

Product page: Illegear Selenite 9th gen, Illegear Selenite

Part 1: Build quality, input devices
Build quality is excellent overall, only just slightly behind Onyx. The lid has aluminium brush on top of it. There is only little flex when force is applied at the center. There is some flex when the lid is twisted, but not as much compared to Onyx. The lid has a bit of wobbling. You can open the lid with 1 hand. The body is all hard-plastic+soft touch build. Despite that, there is no flex on the entire keyboard deck and it cannot be twisted with force.

The mechanical keyboard (GENESWITCH v2, cap 2, brown switch) has low actuation force (slightly lower than the one in Onyx) and 2mm key travel. The switches are surprisingly quiet when pressed. Should be usable in quiet conditions such as in library. There is one complaint: The keycaps have some wobbling which makes typing a little uncomfortable (update: another unit doesn't have wobbling keycaps). Like the Raven, the layout is a bit special (especially right CTRL and SHIFT keys) and I can sometimes mistype the up key when trying to press right shift. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via the Control Center software.

The large Clickpad has Precision driver. The plastic surface has satisfactory smoothness but can be a bit rough when you have wet/oily fingers. Like the Onyx, you can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad. The L/R click feel is OK, nothing special. Take note that the clickpad is located directly below the space bar; therefore, it’s aligned more to the left side. One minor issue: The clickpad has some noise when tapped hard on it.

Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery
The display is a 144Hz IPS panel from BOE (display ID BOE07B6). As you can expect from a high refresh rate panel, everything feels smooth. It gets bright enough, colours are vibrant and has good contrast.

The 2 down firing speakers has good audio (with a bit of bass too); however, you need to tune the audio via Sound Blaster software (otherwise the sound quality is terrible). Tuned audio profile: Music profile, bass 0, treble 3, surround 80, crystalizer 50, bass 40, smart vol 0, dialog+ off. Volume is a bit soft/quiet. Overall, the sound quality is slightly worse than the one in Onyx (with tuned audio profile too).

I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery.

Part 3: Cooling performance
The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 1 shared on CPU+GPU. The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.

Notes on all thermal testing:
CPU Undervolt profile: -100mv on core and cache
Blue highlighted part is CPU undervolted result

CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core
Max 95C, ~3.4-3.6GHz, ~80W
Max 95C, 3.8-3.9GHz, 82-85W, 1200+cb
Almost full fans for both

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70W
Max 90C, 3.0-3.1GHz
Max 90C, 3.3-3.4GHz
Almost max fans for both

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)
Clock speed fluctuates, at least 100MHz higher than boost clock (1440MHz)
Max 75C, max 125W
Slightly reduced fans (compared to almost max fans)

FPU (with undervolt) + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans
CPU: Max 94C, 3.0-3.1GHz, ~50W
GPU: Max 75C, same clock speed behaviour, ~120W

Apex Legends 1080p all max, 6GB budget, 90 FOV (with undervolt)
Mid 70s, clock speed fluctuates at 3+GHz, 20-25W (see video below for explanation of the clock speed fluctuation)
GPU: Max 75C, clock speed fluctuates mostly sit at 1500-1600MHz range, 115+W
Slightly reduced fans

Unigine Valley benchmark (extreme HD, 1 run only)
FPS: 95.9
Score: 4011

The chassis stay quite cool when it’s under load. Core temp differential is ~10C

In Illegear Command Center, there are 2 modes to choose from: Game mode or office mode. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit.

There are also 4 power profiles to choose from:
Here's a good video on how all the power setting works. Very informative. Basically, just keep it to game mode and equilibrium

The included power adapter is a 230W unit from Chicony. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.

Part 4: Miscellaneous
The laptop is very portable for a 17-inch gaming laptop while not sacrificing thickness for cooling room – 2.35kg and 25mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small, just like typical 15 inch device.

You need to press about 2 seconds to power on the laptop.

For the pictures of positioning of ports, cooling solution etc, you can refer Notebookcheck review on XMG Neo 17

Other settings in Illegear Command Center:

Update: i7-9750H model


Update: 2080MQ model


Conclusion: Well-cooled and well-built 17 inch RTX light weight gaming laptop

Pros:
Cons:

UPDATE: revisited with 2070MQ GPU, click here

Main specs:
A few notes before reading:
1. This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here
2. This review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance
3. I will often compare this model with its bigger brother – Selenite

Product page: Illegear Onyx 9th gen, Illegear Onyx

Part 1: Build quality, input devices
Build quality is excellent. If I had to nit-pick, I wish the chassis could be a bit thicker not only for more rigid feel (not to say that it’s flimsy) but also for better cooling performance. The lid has aluminium brush on top of it. There is only little flex when force is applied at the center. There is some flex when the lid is twisted due to the thinness. The lid is a bit wobbling but not a big deal. You can open the lid with 1 hand. The body is all metal build. There is no flex on the entire keyboard deck and it cannot be twisted with force. It feels slightly more solid compared to Selenite.

The mechanical keyboard (GENESWITCH v2, cap 2, brown switch) has low actuation force (slightly higher than the one in Selenite) and 2.8mm key travel. The switches are surprisingly quiet when pressed. Should be usable in quiet conditions such as in library. Like the Raven, the layout is a bit special (especially right CTRL and SHIFT keys) and I can sometimes mistype the up key when trying to press right shift. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via Illegear Command Center.

The Clickpad has Precision driver. The plastic surface has satisfactory smoothness but can be a bit rough when you have wet/oily fingers. Like the Selenite, you can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad. The L/R click feel is OK, nothing special. One thing to note is, the clickpad is aligned slightly to the right of the keyboard space bar which makes it more centralized.

Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery
The display is a 144Hz IPS panel from BOE (display ID BOE07AF). As you can expect from a high refresh rate panel, everything feels smooth. It gets bright enough, colours are vibrant, has low response times and good contrast.

The 2 down firing speakers has good audio (with a bit of bass too); however, you need to tune the audio via Sound Blaster software (otherwise the sound quality is terrible). Tuned audio profile: Music profile, bass 0, treble 3, surround 80, crystalizer 50, bass 40, smart vol 0, dialog+ off. Volume is a bit soft/quiet. Overall, the sound quality is slightly richer than the one in Selenite (with tuned audio profile too).

I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery.

Part 3: Cooling performance
The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 2 shared on CPU+GPU. The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.

Notes on all thermal testing:
CPU Undervolt profile: -100mv on core and cache
Blue highlighted part is CPU undervolted result

CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core
Max 95C, 3.6-3.7GHz, 81-84W
Almost max fans
Max 90C, 3.9GHz, ~75W, 1150+cb
Slightly reduced fans (compared to almost max fans)

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70W
Max 90C, 3.0-3.1GHz
Max 90C, 3.3-3.4GHz
Almost max fans for both

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)
Clock speed fluctuates, about 100-500MHz higher than boost clock (1200MHz)
Max 74C, max 95W
Slightly reduced fans

FPU (with undervolt) + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans
CPU: Max 95C, 3.0-3.2GHz, 49-52W
GPU: Max 78C, same clock speed behaviour, max 85W

Apex Legends 1080p all max, 6GB budget, 90 FOV (with undervolt)
CPU: Max 86C, clock speed fluctuates - 3.0-3.9GHz, 24-33W (see video below for explanation of the clock speed fluctuation)
GPU: Max 77C, +100-200MHz, max 85W
Slightly reduced fans

Unigine Valley benchmark (extreme HD, 1 run only)
FPS: 75.6
Score: 3164

The chassis will get warm (upper part – keyboard area, and bottom part) when it’s under load. However, the bottom part doesn’t get quite as hot as most reviews said (60+C). Maybe it’s due to the low ambient temp. Core temp differential is ~7C.

In Illegear Command Center, there are 2 modes to choose from: Game mode or office mode. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit.

There are also 4 power profiles to choose from:
Here's a good video on how all the power setting works. Very informative. Basically, just keep it to game mode and equilibrium

The included power adapter is an 180W unit from FSP. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.

Part 4: Miscellaneous
The laptop is thin and light – 1.95kg and 20mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small.

You need to press about 2 seconds to power on the laptop.

For the pictures of positioning of ports, cooling solution etc, you can refer Notebookcheck review on XMG Neo 15

Other settings in Illegear Command Center:

Update: i7-9750H with RTX 2060 and 63Wh battery
Main specs:
Battery life test:
Settings: YT 720p video with Chrome (force iGPU), 25% screen brightness, disabled turbo, stock undervolt, best battery mode, no RGB lights, minimal background process
Result: Lasted around 5 hours

Notes:
1. BIOS N.1.52, EC 2.04.09
2. GPU driver tested is 430.64
3. This model gets the new Illegear Command Center with GPU boost feature
4. 2060 model will also get 230W Chicony charger for 9th gen CPU
5. Other notes from previous thermal testing that are not mentioned also apply here
6. To get best performance+thermal result for GPU, you need to undervolt GPU and use turbo mode

Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.

CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)
Max 91C, ~85W, ~4GHz, max fans, 1250+cb
Max 87C, 77-78W, 4GHz, ~52-54dBA, 1250+cb

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70W
Max 90C, 3.2GHz
Max 88C, 3.3-3.4GHz
Max fans

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile with turbo mode)
Clock speed fluctuates: 1650+MHz
Max 81C, max fans, ~80W

FPU + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans
CPU (UV): Max 95C, 2.9-3GHz, 45-47W
GPU: Max 80C, clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz from turbo clock (1200MHz), ~80W

FPU + Valley (extreme HD+turbo) with max fans
CPU (UV): Max 95C, 2.4-2.5GHz, ~31W
GPU: Max 86C, 1550+MHz

Apex Legends all max, 6GB VRAM, 90 FOV
CPU (UV): Max 85C, 3-4GHz, 24-33W
GPU: Max 76C, clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz from turbo clock, ~80W
~50dBA

Apex Legends all max, 6GB VRAM, 90 FOV with turbo mode
CPU (UV): Max 92C, max 3.9GHz (fluctuate), 26-32W
GPU: Max 86C, 1560+MHz
Max fans

Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 6365, Graphics: 6753

Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 13377, Graphics: 17296

Conclusion: Decent thin and light RTX laptop

Pros:
Cons:

Main specs:
This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here. Also, this review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance.

Product page: Illegear Rogue

Part 1: Build quality, input devices
Build quality is good overall. The plastic lid has some flex on the middle of the lid cover when force is applied. Twisting the lid is possible but the flex isn’t too bad. The lid is noticeably wobbling – probably due to QC. You can barely open the lid with single hand.

The body uses all plastic build (soft touch). Despite that, there is little to flex on the entire keyboard+palm rest. Most flex is at the part between keyboard and clickpad, but the amount of flex is very little. There is some flex at the bottom bezel when being pressed in.

The membrane keyboard has a bit of mushiness. Key travel is ~1.7mm, actuation force is 55-60g. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via Illegear Command Center.

The Precision clickpad has plastic surface and it’s slightly elevated to the back. Wet fingers will result in rough surface. Movements are quite precise. The L/R clicks requires moderate pressure to be pressed and the click noise is OK. Not bad overall. You can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad.

Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery
The display is the same 144Hz IPS panel found in Selenite - BOE07B6. As you can expect from a high refresh rate panel, everything feels smooth. It gets bright enough, colours are vibrant and has good contrast.

The 2 down firing speakers has good enough audio only if you tune the audio via Sound Blaster software.

Example of a tuned audio profile: Bass 0, treble 6, surround 80, crystalizer 90, bass 20, smart vol 80 dialog+ 60. Volume is a bit soft/quiet.

I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery (there is optional 63Wh upgrade which sacrifices 2.5 inch bay).

Part 3: Cooling performance
The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 1 shared on CPU+GPU (same with Selenite). The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.

Notes on all thermal testing:
Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.

CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)
Max 88C, 74-75W, 3.8-3.9GHz, 1230+cb
Max 87C, 74-75W, 1280+cb
~38dBA

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 60W
Max 82C, 3.05GHz
Max 82C, 3.2GHz
~35dBA

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)
Clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz higher than boost clock (1590MHz)
Max 67C, ~80W
~34dBA

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile with turbo mode)
Clock speed fluctuates: at least +200MHz higher than boost clock
Max 75C
~36dBA

FPU + Valley (extreme HD+turbo) with max fans
CPU (UV): Max 88C, 3.1-3.2GHz, 50W (PL1 will drop to 50W)
GPU: Max 75C, same clock speed behaviour

Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 6057, Graphics: 5941

Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 13664, Graphics: 15305

The chassis stays quite cool while under load.
There is noticeable uneven core temp, therefore CPU peak temp might be higher.
To get best performance+thermal result for GPU, you need to undervolt GPU and use turbo mode.

In Illegear Command Center, there are 3 modes to choose from: Turbo, Game or Office mode. Turbo mode increases TDP/power consumption of GPU to allow faster GPU clock speed. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit. There are 4 power profiles: High performance (same with Windows), Game, Equilibrium, Power saving.

The included power adapter is an 180W unit from FSP. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.

Part 4: Miscellaneous
The laptop is thin and light for a 17-inch gaming laptop – 2.35kg and 27mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small.

Conclusion: Well-cooled 17 inch light weight gaming laptop with almost no flaws

Pros:
Cons:

UPDATE: revisited, click here

Main specs:
This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here. Also, this review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance.

Product page: Illegear Prodigy

Part 1: Build quality, input devices
Build quality is good overall. The lid has metal brush on it, as a result applying pressure on the middle of the lid cover don’t result in much flex. Twisting the lid is possible but the flex isn’t too bad. The hinges feel well tuned – only a bit of wobbling. You can open the lid with single hand.

The body uses all plastic build (soft touch). Despite that, there is little to flex on the entire keyboard+palm rest. There is some flex at the camera area (the camera is a ‘nosecam’ BTW) when being pressed in.

The membrane keyboard has a bit of mushiness but remains clicky. Key travel is ~1.5mm, actuation force is 55-60g. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via Illegear Command Center.

The Precision clickpad has plastic surface but wet fingers don’t result in rough surface. Movements are quite precise. However, the L/R clicks has loud noise and requires some force when pressed in which feels a little cheap. You can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad. The clickpad is aligned slightly to the right of the keyboard space bar to make it more centered.

Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery
The display is a 144Hz IPS panel from LG (LGD05C0, which is very common panel). Movements in the display feel smooth. It gets bright enough and colours are vibrant. Contrast is OK.

The 2 down firing speakers has good enough audio only if you tune the audio via Sound Blaster software.

Example of a tuned audio profile: Bass 0, treble 6, surround 80, crystalizer 50, bass 20, smart vol 70 dialog+ 70. Volume is a bit soft/quiet.

I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery (there is optional 63Wh upgrade which sacrifices 2.5 inch bay).

Part 3: Cooling performance
The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 2 shared on CPU+GPU (same with Onyx). The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.

Notes on all thermal testing:
Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.

CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)
Max 92C, 71-74W ~1120cb
Max 92C, 74-75W, ~1190cb
~54dBA

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 60W
Max 88C, 2.9-3GHz
Max 88C, 3-3.1GHz
~48-52dBA

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)
Clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz higher than boost clock (1590MHz)
Max 74C, ~80W
~48dBA

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile with turbo mode)
Clock speed fluctuates: at least +200MHz higher than boost clock
Max 77-81C
~48-51dBA

FPU + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans
CPU (UV): Max 95C, 2.7-2.8GHz, 41-42W
GPU: Max 79C, clock speed at least above boost clock, ~80W

CSGO 1080p all max
CPU (UV): Max 95C, 3.6+GHz, ~40W
GPU: Max 79C, clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz higher than boost clock, ~80W
Max fans
(will start thermal throttling after a while)

Apex Legends 1080p all max, 6GB budget, 90 FOV, training map
CPU (UV): 86-95C, max 4GHz with some rare dips, 30-40W
GPU: Max 77C, clock speed fluctuates: at least above boost clock, ~80W
Max fans

Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 5962, Graphics: 5925

Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):
Score: 13564, Graphics: 15412

The chassis does get warm while under load, but not burning hot.
There is noticeable uneven core temp, therefore CPU peak temp might be higher.
To get best performance+thermal result for GPU, you need to undervolt GPU and use turbo mode.

In Illegear Command Center, there are 3 modes to choose from: Turbo, Game or Office mode. Turbo mode increases TDP/power consumption of GPU to allow faster GPU clock speed. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit. There are 4 power profiles: High performance (same with Windows), Game, Equilibrium, Power saving. Basically, just keep it to game mode and equilibrium.

The included power adapter is an 180W unit from FSP. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.

Part 4: Miscellaneous
The laptop is thin and light – 1.75kg (which is very light for a gaming laptop) and 18.5mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small.

Conclusion:
UPDATE: After a retest, thermals are similar to what you will get in Onyx. If you're shopping for a thin and light gaming laptop and you don't need a RTX GPU, this is worth considering.

Pros:
Cons: