Dubai: Toshiba’s premium ultrabook — Kirabook — looks different from other models available in the market. It is made entirely from magnesium alloy rather than aluminium, making it more durable, stronger and more resistant to scratches.
It is also the first Windows laptop that rivals Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro on screen resolution.
It has a resolution of 2560 x1440 pixels compared to a normal PC resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and the 15-inch MacBook Pro has a resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels.
The 13.3-inch touchscreen device is powered by fourth-generation Intel i7 1.80GHz quad-core processor running on Windows 8.1 Pro and with 256GB solid state drive.
Toshiba has done a wonderful job of adding i7 and touch screen into this form factor. Even though it is a bit thicker than some ultrabooks in the market, it is light and easy to carry. It weighs 1.35 kilos.
The screen looks stunning, with accurate colours and details. The screen wobbles slightly when you swipe or tap on it.
The backlit keyboard has slightly rectangular keys with a small spacebar but the keys are solid and spacious with no flex. The Synaptics clickpad is bigger and multi-touch gestures work very well.
It has good connectivity solutions like 3 USB 3.0 ports, one full HDMI port and an SD card reader despite its small size. One of the ports on the left side can be used to charge other devices even when sleeping, which is a handy feature.
Most of the apps are designed for full HD resolution and there are limited apps for such high-resolution displays. What Toshiba is doing is upscaling the contents. All Windows desktop apps can handle scaling properly, as Internet Explorer does. Toshiba’s Desktop Assist app makes tweaking your scaling settings a bit easier than Windows does.
Other than watching 4K videos, you won’t find any Retina-ready apps or games in the Windows Apps Store.
The bonus software included are Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11, Microsoft Office, McAfee Security, Toshiba Media Player, Amazon and Fresh Paint.
The big issue for the Kirabook is its lack of discrete graphics. Based on Intel HD Graphics 4400, it is not meant for heavy gamers as the higher resolution means more horsepower needed to drive it. Light games are not a problem but heavy games rich in 3D effects are an issue and with frame rate dropping drastically.
Setting the screen resolution to 1366 x 768 will be better when playing games.
The 1280 x 720 webcam and the dual microphone is good only for videoconferencing.
The system comes with DTS Studio Sound Technology in built with Harman Kardon speakers. The audio quality is excellent but a bit of distortion happens at full volume. The stereo speakers are placed at the base of the laptop.
The two vents at the bottom of the laptop are used for the laptop’s single fan. The fan gets a bit noisy when the hardware starts to strain.
During my video playback test at full brightness, it gave just over eight hours, which is pretty good. It is priced at Dh7,229 and comes with two-year warranty
