As sales of Apple products continue to decline, it has become customary to read about and expect the announcement of new competition. Though Apple is seeing stiff competition in the markets for smartphones and tablets, it has generally held strong with personal computers. At a quick glance, the Toshiba Kirabook could easily be mistaken for a Macbook Air.
The sleek silver finish, black keys and thin screen are almost identical to the Pro. The Kirabook will be the first in Toshiba's rebranded line of luxury products. Previously, Toshiba had been known for selling affordable laptops and notebooks in the $300 to $500 range.
Priced at $1,599.99, the Kirabook is $100 more than the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina display currently offered on Apple.com. Over at Amazon.com, the Asus Zenbook Prime, with a similar touch screen, is on sale for just over $1,200. PC sales have seen a steep decline of over 10 percent in recent months. According to recent reports, Toshiba saw a 9 percent decline in its PC sales in the last quarter.
The standard Kirabook model will feature an upgraded spine, which will reduce bending that often occurs in other laptops. For an extra $300 customers can add a touch screen option to their laptops, thus combining the compatibility of a laptop and interactive nature of a tablet. The base model will contain a Core i5 processor and hold 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
If a customer wants both the touch screen and an increased i7 processor, the price rises to $1,999.
Though the Kirabook could appeal to the luxury consumer, those with money to spend may opt for the cheaper and more classically efficient Macbook Pro and Air.
The three models of Kirabook will be released in early May.
