Looking not unlike the Apple MacBook Air, the new Toshiba Kirabook is a high-end offering in the Ultrabook space. Key features include 2560-by-1440 color-calibrated resolution on a 13.3” display and a magnesium casing that helps keep the weight down to 2.6lb. A starting price of $1599 means you’ll be looking carefully at the other specs before buying. A few of them are quite surprising.
Kira is a new brand from the Japanese manufacturer which means there’s likely to be a range of products but the first, the Kirabook, comes in i5, i5 with touch and an i7 version with touch.
This is not a VPro Ultrabook (which can be a more efficient advantage for those who don’t need remote management and the advanced security features) but it does come with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB HDD. There’s an HDMI port, 3 USB 3.0 ports, headset port and a full SD card slot.
Battery capacity is a sector-average 52Wh (about 5hrs of normal use) there’s no DisplayPort and, surprisingly, you’ve only got a Centrino-N 2230, a 2.4Ghz only model. That’s not good if you’re using WiFi in a heavily populated area these days. 5Ghz support is a must.
It seems that Toshiba have worked to create a media-persons Ultrabook here. Photographers, videographers and, if that keyboard is better than the previous Toshiba Ultrabooks, for writers. It’s a stylish unit and will fit well with media-types. Add about 15% to the weight figure for a touchscreen version though.
The obvious competitor is the Ultrabook I’m using right now. A Core i7, 8GB, 256GB Lenovo Yoga 13 has a usable 1600×900 touchscreen display and similar port-set and battery life. It costs much less than the Kirabook i7 touch and can also function as an easel or tablet.
We’re in contact with Toshiba to find out about European availability. The Kirabook will be available on May 3rd in the USA.
Well, I would rather add to the headline of the post: is NOT a media-bod’s… Unfortunately, Kirabook does not support video output higher than 1920×1080, that is, FulHD. That would be a great question “why” addressed to someone in Toshiba mobile unit. For purpose of photography on-the-go it is good, but… if one cannot manage higher resolutions on 24″ or 27″ external displays that is the fault and the way to ask oneself: is there any reason to pay much if one have so many alternatives, even with 13″ IPS panels and great video output. By the way, Kira’s panel is NOT IPS.
Ya, surprising that they didn’t use a DisplayPort instead. Media people who would see the $1599+ cost as just a business expense wouldn’t be doing most of their work on the 13.3″ screen but on a large high res monitor. It’s nice when mobile though. Of course, there are other factors to screen quality than just resolution especially for media people.
Anyway, seems like a nice notebook for the high PPI on any size display fans that seem to complain a lot.
I’d be interested to see the actual difference in 13″ screen quality when comparing an already outstanding 1920 x 1080 resolution to this one. I wonder if it’s even noticeable on a 13″ screen.
I’d say most consumers won’t be able to tell the difference between 768p and 1080p at normal distances except for seeing smaller text and icons. That probably includes most of the “no 1080p, no sale” people around the internet. Probably the same with with 1080p and 1440p.
Of course, I’m talking about 13.3″ and smaller screens.
The difference will be noticeable when looking at small fonts on the screen. If you try to read fonts at 8 pt, you will notice the difference. I guess that’s the biggest difference you may notice.
Dear Toshiba,
please, if you wish so, follow this clue, to realize why not to create 0.3″ ultrabook Kirabook with the native resolution 16384×4096 for less than 10 customers, than to create the 15″ or 17″ or 18″ or 20″ ultrabook Ki ra bo ok with beautifully usable full keyboard with the preinstalled Windows 8(desktop version) and Linux for more than ten-s- of thousand-s- of customers all around the world.
Taking the allowance to salute your well valued decision making managers, with the advice to start selling them on May 13 across Europe and USA and United Kingdom.
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