TOKYO, Nov 21 — Toshiba’s latest ultrabook, the Dynabook Kira V634, launched yesterday in Japan, sets a new benchmark for battery life.

Take that Apple. When Apple announced that its latest superlight notebook, the MacBook Air, could go 13 hours on a single charge thanks to a Haswell processer update, there were gasps of amazement.

Toshiba was clearly less than impressed. Its 13.3-inch display Dynabook Kira V634 weighs just 1.12kg, supports 4K video output, comes with 8GB of RAM as standard and a solid-state 128GB hard disk. But, most importantly, thanks to yet another Haswell chip — Intel’s fourth-generation dual core processor — it can go a scarcely believable 22 hours on a single battery charge, and all for just ¥144,000 (about RM4,580).

It also has a higher-specification counterpart with a better, 2,560 x 1,440 pixel touchscreen display that will retail for ¥153,000 and offers a slightly less impressive 14 hours of battery life between charges. As such it is one of the first devices to meet Intel’s updated definition of the term “ultrabook”.

For a portable computer to be able to call itself an ultrabook from next year, it will have to have an Intel Haswell Processor, a touchscreen display and run Windows 8.1. These criteria are why Apple’s superlight laptop, the MacBook Air, cannot be referred to as an ultrabook.

Toshiba is yet to confirm if or when the computers will be coming to Europe or the US. — AFP/Relaxnews