Toshiba today unveiled the latest addition to its range, the multitouch-enabled Satellite U500.

The consumer-focussed U500 is a compact, stylish 13.3in laptop, finished with gleaming chrome highlights and an attractive textured finish, but the real star of the show is the 13.3in multitouch display.

The touch panel comes courtesy of N-Trig and its DuoSense display, and while a tell-tale graininess gives away the panel’s touch capabilities, we found the touch functions surprsingly tactile and responsive.

Microsoft’s Touch Pack shows off the new multitouch display to its fullest, with Virtual Earth allowing us to spin, zoom and rotate our way around the world with a natural-feeling range of two-fingered gestures, and although image quality suffers a little, we could easily get used to showing off our photos to friends and family with a mere flick of the wrist.

There’s no definite release date as yet, possibly as Toshiba is still deciding whether to replace the now-elderly Core 2 Duo processor with one of the latest Intel Core i3 models, but Toshiba claims that the multitouch screen will only account for an £80 premium over and above the standard model.