4K is everywhere at CES this year. 4K TVs. 4K monitors. 4K projectors. And now, in Toshiba's booth, some 4K PC laptops.

If Toshiba's Kirabook is an answer of sorts to the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the new Satellite P50t is a response to the 15-inch model. It's got a 3840×2160 resolution display, which at 15.6 inches works out to 282 PPI. The demo unit we handled looked and felt a fair bit chunkier than the MacBook Pro, but a Toshiba representative told us the chassis was a body from an older model being used to showcase the display panel, and it would be subject to change.

Toshiba couldn't tell us much on the subject of specs, either, but it was hinted that we can at least expect options for quad-core Intel CPUs and dedicated GPUs, even if those aren't the default configuration options. The display model also integrated a Blu Ray drive, four USB 3.0 ports, a full-size HDMI port, an Ethernet jack, and a backlit keyboard with a number pad. We'll know more about pricing, specifications, and the finalized body of the laptop when the laptop nears its "summer-ish" launch date.

As for the panel itself, Toshiba says the P50t's screen has been color calibrated, and we can verify that it's a very sharp and nice-looking display. Colors and viewing angles are great, and both text and images are as sharp as expected (though as we've written, your experience may vary based on the apps you use and whether they have proper high-PPI display support).

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

There were four other laptops in Toshiba's booth that are worth a quick mention. First, the Tecra W50 mobile workstation, which uses the same 15.6-inch, high-resolution 4K display as the P50t but has aesthetics and specs more in line with a traditional workstation laptop. It crams a quad-core Intel processor and dedicated Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU into a chassis that's more concerned with performance than portability. The finish on the laptop's display was also somewhat less glossy than the more consumer-oriented P50t.

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Next up, we saw a unique prototype convertible that Toshiba is billing as a "five-in-one" PC. The keyboard detaches from the screen of the unit, but unlike most designs where lid and base separate at the hinge, there's a small rectangular strip that stays attached to the screen at all times.

The first mode is obviously "laptop" mode, which is self-evident. Next up is "canvas" mode, where the small strip is used to angle the screen toward you at an angle conducive to writing and drawing with the included Wacom stylus. In "presentation/TV" mode, you detach the keyboard, flip the base 180 degrees, and stand the screen up vertically. The final two modes are sort of similar—there's "tablet" mode, in which you completely detach the keyboard, and "convertible tablet" mode in which you fold the hinge all the way around Lenovo Yoga-style. The keyboard can be removed and flipped so that the keys aren't facing outward as you use it, one of our biggest gripes with the otherwise good Yoga design.

The as-yet-unnamed concept is an impressive bit of engineering—for example, the small base attached to the screen is where the CPU and all other system components are stored, while the battery is kept behind the screen. Whether it appeals to you will depend mostly on how you feel about the unusual keyboard positioning. With models that move the keyboard so close to the front edge of the laptop, finding a place to rest your palms can be problematic when the computer is in your lap. There's no trackpad, which has been booted in favor of a small mouse nub and some buttons. There's no release date, pricing, or spec information to share at the moment.

Next, a Haswell-based update to the Kirabook is slated for release in mid-February. The refresh supposedly boosts battery life to about nine hours. Battery life was one of our biggest gripes with the otherwise excellent Ivy Bridge model, and we're hoping to get one of the new models in for testing soon. The base price drops slightly to $1,499, and all models now include touchscreens and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Visually, the new model is basically identical to the old one, which definitely isn't a bad thing.

Finally, because we're always on the lookout for a bargain, we noticed the NB15t, a $380 11.6-inch Windows 8.1 laptop that uses a Bay Trail-based dual-core Celeron CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive while managing to squeeze in a touchscreen and 802.11ac. Those last two features in particular aren't common at this price point. The NB15t is priced just above the latest wave of Chromebooks, and we hope to put it through its paces soon as well.