Toshiba KIRAbook Ultrabook Review
by Dustin Sklavos on May 9, 2013 12:01 AM ESTIn and Around the Toshiba KIRAbook
I'm of two minds when it comes to the design of the Toshiba KIRAbook. On the one hand, it's definitely an attractive ultrabook, manufactured primarily out of pressed magnesium alloy that Toshiba claims is stronger than the aluminum alloy used for the MacBook Air. On the other hand, while the KIRAbook certainly photographs well for Toshiba's site and there was clearly attention paid to the fit and finish, there's still something weirdly chintzy about the build quality.
First, the good parts: while the display uses a glossy coating, it's still very beautiful and the hinge is extremely sturdy. That at least allows you to use the KIRAbook's touchscreen without being too dainty or delicate about it and worrying about tipping the notebook over. The body of the KIRAbook is also borderline flexproof, and there's no flex in the keyboard. The white LED backlighting for the keyboard is also attractive, and the keyboard action is about as good as you're likely to find on a sub-14" ultrabook. I think I still ever so slightly prefer Dell's XPS 13 keys, but the KIRAbook has a much smarter keyboard layout.
So why am I not completely on board with the KIRAbook? Because for $1,599 and up, there shouldn't be any flex in the screen or lid, especially not this much, and my thumbs shouldn't be able to bow the bottom panel of the notebook. The clickpad is serviceable, but it absolutely pales in comparison to the clickpads used on HP's EliteBooks. Finally, the silver and black with chrome trim has been kind of done to death. This was one place where I feel like Dell really nailed it with their XPS line by going almost entirely black. What about gunmetal? What about bronze? What about even going back to white? There are other aesthetics to work with, and Toshiba does the KIRAbook a disservice with such a conservative look.
Thankfully the overall experience of using the KIRAbook is a positive one. I don't ordinarily point out audio branding in the spec table because it's almost never actually relevant; notebook speakers generally suck, and no amount of Beats Audio or harman/kardon branding does much to change that. Yet the KIRAbook does appear to actually have specially designed speakers, and I bring this up because audio resonates from it loudly and surprisingly clearly. The low end is always going to suffer, but these really are subjectively the best speakers I've ever heard in anything short of a 17" notebook. Though they're down-firing, they actually produce more body and sound better on a flat surface than they do when they're clear, and I can only assume they were engineered that way.
I'm also not sold on touch in notebooks (and even less so on Windows 8's Modern UI in general), but the implementation in the KIRAbook feels like a solid one, owing at least partially to that well-designed screen hinge. The problems with the user experience of the KIRAbook, at least where Windows is concerned, have virtually nothing to do with the quality of the hardware and display and more with the pitfalls of Windows itself. Modern UI is productivity hell, yet it demands a touchscreen. Meanwhile, the traditional desktop is well suited to productivity, but touch is a total disaster there. The high resolution display also looks spectacular, but third party applications have always interacted horribly with Windows scaling, resulting in a series of compromises. None of this can be blamed on Toshiba; they're giving us what we've been asking for in the first place.
110 Comments
View All Comments
patelkedar - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
Is it just me or... does it look exactly like my Asus Zenbook? Lol.sweenish - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
It looks a lot uglier than a Zenbook, to me. The colors and shape are just so plain. Nothing pops. But I may have a bias as I think that the Zenbooks and Series 9s are the best looking laptops on the market.tipoo - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
What about display scaling though? That resolution would make elements tiny without setting Windows scaling, and Windows scaling breaks some things (usually old or poorly coded, but still) since it's not perfect integer scaling like the rMBP at default. I'd be interested in some commentary on that.zogus - Thursday, May 9, 2013 - link
I'm not sure if it's really fair to compare 13" retina MacBook Pro to the Kirabook, considering that the rMBP is 20% heavier. In fact, the Kirabook's weight (1.35kg) is identical to 13" MacBook Air.repoman27 - Saturday, May 11, 2013 - link
Well, going by the specs though, that 20% is just 270g. And the MBPR is only 6% larger. In exchange for that very small sacrifice in portability, you get a 42% larger battery (74 Wh vs 52 Wh), a 2.6 GHz Core i5-3230M or 3.0 GHz Core i7-3540M as opposed to a 2.0 GHz Core i7-3537U, up to 768 GB SSD options, and a 2560x1600 display. I guess my point being the price for thin and light is getting a little ridiculous when you compare either the high-end MacBook Airs or the KIRAbook to the 13-inch MBPR.surt - Friday, May 10, 2013 - link
Kudos on the DS9 reference.seapeople - Friday, May 10, 2013 - link
Have to agree about the lack of screen discussion. You basically just reviewed a revolutionary (for Windows) 1440p 13" laptop and did not say a single thing about how the display works or looks with Windows 8. Can you scale this to 1280x720 and get sharp graphics for gaming, like you can with the rMBP?barry spock - Saturday, May 11, 2013 - link
Got to say,I'm really liking the little pithy commenty thing in the top right of the article headers.
And dead-set right, Dustin, on the point about why doesn't anyone do a gunmetal/"titanium-colour" or bronze-coloured metal chassis.
Death666Angel - Saturday, May 11, 2013 - link
"You can make something that's ostensibly better than an Apple product, but if it's running Windows, you need to charge less for it."Ain't monopolies grand? :D
MelodyRamos47 - Sunday, May 12, 2013 - link
If you think Amber`s story is impossible..., five weaks-ago my cousins friend who's a single mom basically also made $4658 workin a fifteen hour week from their apartment and the're classmate's mother-in-law`s neighbour was doing this for seven months and actually earnt over $4658 part time on there labtop. use the information available on this page Jump44.comTAKE A LOOK