Review: ILLEGEAR Z5

iKilledElmo — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 23:21:13 +0800

Recently, I have bought a Z5 from Illegear. I've made my payment on 28 July and received it on 29 July with RM50 rush fees. And on the same week I've also sent it back to RMA on 31 July and so in total i made 3 trips to Oval Damansara. They definitely know who i am.

Let's put that all aside. Please jump to the Final Verdict below if it is too lengthy for you
PLEASE go through it if you're considering Illegear as your next notebook replacement.

Do note that this review is based on my own personal experience throughout my 2 weeks usage.
I hope this will enable everyone who shows interest in Z5 to make a more informed decision before purchasing with your hard-earned money.
I will list down all the things that I like and things that that i don't like.

These are my specs:
ILLEGEAR Z5 - Details : - Display: 15.6" Full HD Anti-glare Display featuring IPS / AHVA Wide Color & Wide View (1920 x 1080)
Tune Your Screen: Professional Color Calibration
Processor: 7th Gen. Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ (6MB Cache, 2.80GHz to 3.80GHz)
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 with Optimus (Pascal)
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut & Burn-in Test - CPU & GPU
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM 2400MHz - 1 X 8GB
1st 2.5" SATA Drive: 1TB 7200rpm Hitachi Hard Drive
1st M.2 Solid State Drive: 275GB Micron 1100 M.2 SATA Solid State Drive
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
Warranty: ILLEGEAR Carry-in Warranty with 1 Year Parts and Labor & Lifetime Technical Support
Accessories: ILLEGEAR Backpack & Velvet Sleeve
Rush Service: Yes

Build quality:
The screen and keyboard area have no flex. Only the top-side and keyboard area are made up from aluminum, the rest are plastic. Overall, a very well constructed notebook.

Design:
Not overtly designed for gaming which won't make you feel awkward if you bring it out and use it in your office. The Red LED on the back panel and White LED around the touch pad can be turned off, which is a plus.

Touchpad:
It feels a bit "jumpy" at times.
Maybe it is just me because i have sweaty palms , don't take my word for it as it is just my own personal preference.
EDIT: Ok, it is definitely not me. The touch pad is utterly unusable - sensitivity is off. Often times, i'm struggling to drag and drop files. So, be sure to have a mouse with you.

Noise level:
If you care about noise, you won't be getting a gaming notebook but it will be quiet on light usage.

Keyboard:
The overall tactile feel, travel distance and backlight keys are subpar. Besides, the fonts are, em.. let's say, quite questionable. It actually boils down to your personal preference though.
The typing feels exactly like when I'm using my company's laptop, HP EliteBook. Not a deal breaker though because I'm using my mechanical keyboard all the time. Just wish that the included WASD keys are not gaming keys (it is printed differently compared to the rest) - not everyone is a FPS player. You can easily replace keycaps on a mechanical keyboard but not on notebook.
It is just a thing to consider if you're planning to use it as your primary keyboard.

Photo for reference.
[attachmentid=9044504]

Speaker:
Maximum volume could be better. Sound is clear and crisp.
Bass is almost non-existent even with the built in subwoofer. Nothing to complain here because it is common on most notebooks.

Screen:
One of my gripe with this notebook is the screen. Don't get me wrong, the viewing angle, brightness and colour are all excellent. However, as most IPS panels have suffered, there is no running away from screen bleeding but it is apparent on this particular model. When i first power up the laptop it is not noticeable because it is using a bright default wallpaper. To my surprise, the edges are filled with yellowish/brownish bleed after I've changed it to a black wallpaper. In the beginning, they are quite insistent on saying it is screen glow and claimed it is normal on IPS display. They also confirmed with the manufacturer that the so-called screen glow is "normal" as per quality standard and deemed not defective - as confirmed by sales representative. So, you will be getting screen bleeding no matter what, it just the matter of severity or your luck.

This picture is not overexposed. It looks exactly like this when i'm viewing a dark background in a dark room. Be my guest and judge it yourself. Do note that this is the new screen that has been replaced.
[attachmentid=9044514]

A mark which only appears on the boot up screen identified as a "bug" from them.

This is the mark that I'm talking about.
[attachmentid=9044567]

So, I've made a complaint and they changed a new screen for me. Well of course, the issues are still there but it is slightly better but the mark still remains there. I'm not sure whether they use the same panel from the same manufacturer across all units. So, please be wary.

Tips: Switch to a pitch black wallpaper to check.

Performance and Temperature:
This is my biggest gripe that I've with the notebook. Gaming experience is awesome but at the expense of extreme heat. Do bear in mind that my unit came with the "FREE Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut". Can't imagine if it is using a standard thermal paste as the temperature will be out of control. In my case, the Grizzly Kryonaut doesn't make any difference at all. So, I have returned my unit for them to troubleshoot and they've reapplied the thermal paste. However, the problem still persists, so I'm inclining to draw a conclusion that Z5 has very poor heat dissipation and management.
Good news is that that I've never experienced thermal throttling but the bad news is that I've seen high temps as high as 95c.
What infuriates me is that they suggest to turn off Turbo Boost to cope with the high temps. Let put it this way, you paid for a brand new Honda Civic Type-R and then they told you, "Opss sorry bro, you can't use your Turbo because your car can't handle it" lol.
In the end, i resorted to turn off the Turbo Boost because I like it to run cool.

What baffled me is that, I saw an authorized Illegear on lowyat stated that the benchmark temperature for the GPU is 70c. In my book, that is blatantly false advertising. My temps is already higher than 70c when I'm at the main menu
[attachmentid=9044568]
[attachmentid=9044569]

Here is the FPS and max temps which I've managed to tabulate at room temperature with Turbo Boost. Oh ya, the temps are captured via HWMonitor to avoid them saying MSI Afterburner being inaccurate which they did to me.
[attachmentid=9044623]

FINAL VERDICT
Pros of getting from a well-known brand like ASUS ROG, ACER Predator, Lenovo, MSI and the like is there are ample of reviews/benchmark out there. Research is an integral part of anyone's purchase decision. There aren't any Z5 reviews out there, apart from an obvious paid unboxing/review, so you just have to take the sales representative's words for it, which sometimes is not necessarily true. In the end, what matters most to them is sales.

EDIT:
If your work rely heavily on colour accuracy, please please stay away from this notebook, unless you have a external monitor to double check the colours - the black colour in the screen bleeding area at the edges will not look black at all. You're better off with a notebook with a better quality screen. And yes price vs performance is unmatched but there is always a catch. Obviously, they have to skimp on some components to be able to do so, in my case, poor heat management and low quality screen.

Besides, i feel it is quite unethical to claim something that is downright ridiculous (Hint: GPU Temp 70c). 10% margin of error is still tolerable.
In this day and age, everything you say will be documented.

Do let me know if you want me test anything.
Thank you for your time.

[WTS] Huawei Talkband B2 White (Used)

iKilledElmo — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 18:26:01 +0800

Item(s): Huawei Talkband B2 White (Used)

Package includes: Everything that comes in the box.

Price: RM250

Warranty: None

Dealing method: Preferably COD

Location: Klang Valley (Mall)

Contact method/details:
PM or WhatsApp me @ 0164105459

Item(s) conditions: Item is still in pristine condition as it has only been wore a few times and it's now collecting dust ever since. Got it from company event in December 2015.

Picture:
[attachmentid=7838275]
[attachmentid=7838280]

Reason for sale: Clearing unnecessary items for extra cash.

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by iKilledElmo

Review: ILLEGEAR Z5

[WTS] Huawei Talkband B2 White (Used)