CES 2014: Toshiba Gets Ahead Of The Curve With World’s First 4K Laptops

Toshiba has announced two laptops with native 3840 × 2160 pixel resolution – the very first of their kind.

The Tecra W50 mobile workstation and a somewhat less powerful Satellite P50t both feature 15.6-inch, 4K displays capable of playing back Ultra High Definition content. The first is aimed at engineers and design professionals, while the second is a cheaper version with integrated touchscreen, made for the masses.

Both laptops were revealed at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and are due to go on sale in the middle of 2014. There is currently no information on pricing, but mobile workstations are traditionally more expensive that their desktop counterparts – similar models from HP cost upwards of £1,200.

First strike

Ultra High Definition became a standard in 2012, but screens capable of displaying this level of clarity remain niche products. “As a leader in Ultra HD, we are leveraging our 4K TV expertise to deliver a display capable of four times the resolution of Full HD to provide smoother images with astounding details,” explained Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing and engineering at Toshiba US, Digital Products Division.

“We have applied years of experience and engineering resources to bring Ultra HD 4K technology into our premium laptops for consumers and businesses so they can usher in the next generation of content creation and consumption.”

The new Toshiba displays feature wide viewing angles and pixel density of 282 PPI – in comparison, the Retina display on Apple’s latest generation MacBook Pro manages just 220 PPI. They are also colour calibrated at the factory, to satisfy the most demanding of customers.

Tecra W50 was designed for people working with 3D graphics in a professional capacity, using software like SolidWorks or AutoCAD. It packs quite a punch, with a full-voltage, latest generation Intel Core i7 chip, NVIDIA Quadro K2100M GPU and at least 8GB of DDR3 RAM clocked at 1600 MHz. All that, while weighing just six pounds.

“With the addition of an integrated 4K display, this is an ideal machine for designers, engineers and digital content professionals looking to be productive, and stylish, anywhere,” said Shawn Worsell, product line manager for the Quadro Professional Solutions Business at Nvidia.

Meanwhile, the Satellite P50t will be more appropriate for photographers, graphic designers and HD entertainment enthusiasts. It features the same screen with the addition of a touch overlay, and slightly reduced specifications.

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