Toshiba Unveils High-Res Kirabook Discussion

On Wednesday Toshiba announced its new luxury line of notebooks Kira, unveiling the first device to launch under the new brand, the Kirabook. Toshiba seems to be gunning after the big dogs, as the Kirabook appears to be a direct competitor to Apple's MacBook Pro with its high-res display and sleek form factor.

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Attractive but unoriginal design. Price is hard to stomach considering that 1080p ultrabooks are a lot cheaper and 1080p is definitely "good enough" at this screen size.

Good to see 2560x1440 screens hitting the market, but I wonder if a ULV CPU and no GPU is enough to avoid the lag that the rMBP 13 has been reported to have.

 

Well, I kinda like the minimalist look, and am glad and such, though it's not really my personal cup of tea (I prefer being able to upgrade and more battery life, etc.) and it seems too expensive.

 

I agree with Mitlov, that designed started by Apple with the MBA has been copied many times over and the price, no thanks.

 

the HD 4000 is enough to drive the display the problem was the software on the rmbp 13, that scaling algorithm was not made very well.

 

I agree $1,600 is too much by ~$200-400 or so, but you get to charge a premium when you offer something one-of-a-kind. I'm pleased to see a higher-than 1080p display finally being offered on notebooks.

You can get a Dell XPS 13 for about half the price; it's the most well-rounded Ultrabook I reviewed all year:
Dell XPS 13 Review: Now with FHD Screen

 

I'm confused: doesn't the rMBP 13 have IVB "M" cpus and HD4000 and list for less than the Toshiba with ULV cpu and HD4000. And can't you get an rMBP15 with 256GB SSD and a quad core i7 and nVidia GT650 for around the same $2,000 as for the "upgraded" "Kriabook," which also has ULV cpu? Where's the comparison to rMBPs? And where's the value?

 

On Dell's site the XPS 13 FHD costs 1500 dollars when you load it up with 1080HD, a 256 SSD and 2 year warranty. And that does NOT include touch screen because the Dell does not offer it, which is crazy. The only other machine on the market currently that is close to this is the Samsung series 7 ultra which is 1080P but only offered with 128 SSD at this time in North America. What I like about this over the Samsung is the black keys. Its so much easier to read then the silver ones. I'm wondering what the battery life will be like on this? But I disagree, when comparing this to the Dell its priced pretty close.. when you factor in touch and warranty and screen resolution. No doubt the highest end W8 machine yet.

 

With all due respect, while I agree that the keyboard is the weak link of the Samsung 7 Ultra (sliver keys on silver background with very fine line character markings and weak backlighting) it is otherwise superior to the Toshiba Kirabook in every respect (except screen resolution, but I would much prefer the 1080p IPS screen to a higher - and non-standard - internal screen that isn't even IPS) as far as what is known about the latter. The S7 has a 1080p IPS 350 nit touchscreen, it can take user-installed RAM up to 16GB dual channel, the only model on sale in the US at present is a 128GB, 4GB, IGP only model, but the SSD is a standard mSATA and, at $999 at Best Buy (exclusively) it can easily be equipped to have 256GB SSD, 16GB RAM for under $1,300 and, moreover, this model is being sold overseas now as described but also with an AMD 8570 (low-mod power) d-gpu which I imagine would add no more than $200 to the price of the base model. Thus, extrapolating from the preceding specs, one could imagine for $1,500 you could obtain the Samsung Series 7 Ultra in a vastly, vastly higher caliber of kit and, for yet an additional $200 or so, transform it to a 512GB SSD so that at around $1,700 you have an Ultrabook on massive steroids while the Kirabook is said to top out at $2,000.

Overall, the Toshiba Kirabook is entirely underwhelming and vastly overpriced. Comparing it to an rMBP is entirely inappropriate; all it has in common with that is a high resolution screen. Compared to the 256GB rMBP 15 (at $200 more) it looks like a weak IGP ultrabook compared to a very high powered standard voltage mobile cpu, overclockable GT 650 d-gpu powerful mobile computer.

 

Ok I have to agree the Samsung series 7 is a great value at a thousand dollars. Currently typing this on an older HP HDX 18 with silver keys/backlighting and its horrid. Its showing its age now with its not as bright LCD 1080P screen. But I really love my Toshiba P740 14" fusion with its black keys/back light. Really like the hardon kardon speakers on it too. I agree, the Toshiba resolution is probably more then I need. 1080P is good enough with IPS. But this Toshiba is lighter then the series 7. I like to see one of these up close. I'm still thinking this may be a very well made machine. I don't think this has MB like profit margins built into it. I'm thinking its expensive to manufacturer but I may be wrong. One thing is for sure, i'm definitely waiting on Haswell, windows 8.1 and the second generation of W8 ultra-portables. Things will get better and hopefully cheaper. But my original comment was made about the comparison to the Dell XPS 13 and not the Samsung series 7 ultra. The Dells value does not hold up once you add a bigger SSD and 1080P. Like I said, its 1500 and that does not have a touch screen. Why did dell not make the XPS 13 touch?

 

It looks nice but it'll be a stretch to get many to consider a PC this expensive. Macs...sure..but PC's...not so much.

 

Yep. A good decade of marketing and real world results from Apple screams that for the price premium you pay for a Mac, you get a quality device. Not so with PCs. Especially given the bad PR Win 8 is getting. Who would want to pay extra for what seems like an inferior product? A lot of people I know buy PCs because they're cheaper, not because they necessarily think they're better than Macs.

I highly doubt this will gain any significant traction unless price is reduced by at least $300.

 

does anyone know if the ram is soldered on or if there are ram slots to upgrade? Thanks

 

Unfortunately, RAM can't be upgraded in the KIRAbook, it's soldered onto the motherboard.