Toshiba Updates Kirabook with Broadwell

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Laptop refresh sees an upgrade to Intel's Core i7-5500U CPU

Toshiba today announced that its premium Kirabook 13 i7S1 Touch Ultrabook is now rocking a 5th Generation Intel Core i7-5500U processor based on the Santa Clara chip maker's Broadwell architecture. The new part is a dual-core chip with four threads with a base frequency of 2.4GHz and turbo frequency of 3GHz. It also sports 4MB of cache, Intel HD Graphics 5500, and a 15W TDP.
Like the previous generation Kirabook, the upgraded model features a 13.3-inch WQHD (2560x1440) PixelPure touchscreen display, 8GB of DDR3-1600 memory, 256GB mSATA solid state drive, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HD webcam, stereo microphone, HDMI output with 4K capability, three USB 3.0 ports (one with Sleep and Charge), and Windows 8.1 Pro. Toshiba also tosses in the full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 12.
The Kirabook sports a luxury design with a magnesium-alloy body that weighs 2.91 pounds. We reviewed a similar spec'd version a couple of years ago and gave it a 9 verdict -- you can read that review here. Or if you'd rather not click, about the only thing we could ding it for was the price.
At the time of that review, it was going for $2,000. The upgraded model on Toshiba's website goes for $1,700, though you may be able to get it for less -- when tried to leave the website, Toshiba offered us a $75 discount in exchanging for receiving weekly email specials.
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