“It’s not funny,” she said, having held the laptop for 30 seconds as I fiddled with the camera, “this laptop is heavy.”

That’s also undeniably true, but then the Satellite P500 wasn’t built to be carried between home and office. This is a machine designed to entertain, and Toshiba packs in all the hi-tech goodies you can think of to make it a pleasure to use.

Heading the list of entertainment partners is Blu-ray, which is included in the top-end model. It’s a writer as well as a reader, but sadly I couldn’t test it on the stand as the mix of early drivers and software wasn’t working (the P500 isn’t due for release until October at the earliest).

I could test the rather beautiful looking Harman Kardon speakers, which on first listen – at a busy stand, note – lived up to Toshiba’s description as “delicious”. You could pick out the detail and the bass, and they didn’t distort at volume either.

The 18.4in screen is equally delicious, as it should be, with the 1,680 x 945 screen I was admiring a pleasure to gaze upon. The multi-touch keyboard also worked well enough within what appears to be quite a basic remit of zooming in and out, though I’ll hold judgement on both this and the keyboard before using them in anger.

We covered the rest of the known spec in our news story about the P500, but suffice to say that whatever you decide to use this laptop for – gaming, video editing, photo editing – a combination of Intel’s fastest laptop processors and Nvidia’s fastest graphics mean it should perform with some aplomb.

Add in support for up to 8GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage, courtesy of two hard disk bays, and the P500 lives up to its desktop replacement description. We look forward to getting it into our Labs for a full test as soon as possible!

You may have noticed the latest review up on the PC Pro homepage, of HP’s Pavilion HDX9320EA laptop. A gloriously over the top machine, with oodles of style and a price tag that’s certainly not as high as we expected when it was crane-lifted out of the box.

But is it actually a laptop? Could it feasibly be argued that this leviathan will comfortably sit on the average lap? At some point a desktop replacement becomes, well, just a desktop by another name.

The HP weighs 7kg on its own, and a back-breaking 8.2kg when you chuck in the power brick too. Add the fact that none of the major UK bag makers produce anything to fit such a beast and I’d argue the HP “Dragon” is actually not much of a portable at all.

Yes, you could tuck it under one arm (if you’re a freakish giant like our very own Mike Jennings) but that’s hardly feasible on public transport. Which limits you to car journeys – a mode of travel which is equally hospitable to desktop PCs and their multiple peripherals – and use around the home.

I like the HP, I really do, and I can see the appeal in a sense – Mike would argue that it’s great to be able to play a game upstairs with the power of a PC, then sling it on the coffee table while the football’s on, all before sitting down to a movie in HD on the huge 20in screen.

Power, clarity and flexibility in one versatile package – perhaps it belongs more in the lifestyle PC category with the wonderful Dell XPS One (right) than it does with other laptops. (In fact, Dell has form in this area – remember the XPS M2010?)

But if it was my wallet involved in the decision, my hard-earned pennies being slapped down, would I really choose such a form-factor for myself?

In a word, no. I’d spend the same amount on a desktop and monitor, and I’d probably get more from my investment. Look at the A List. I could save £150+ and get the Cyberpower Gamer Ultra M2 Quad, with its awesome graphics, huge hard disk and 22in TFT.

Not portable enough? How about the Shuttle XPC P2 3500G (left), with its huge hard disk, strong graphics and tiny size? With the £200+ saved I could take my pick of the best 22in TFTs out there.

In fact, there are all manner of alternatives I’d go for before I’d buy the HP, and all of them fall firmly into traditional “laptop” or “desktop” categories.

The HP Pavilion HDX9320EA is undoubtedly a fine machine, and I won’t deny it’s fully deserving of its Recommended award. But I’d beg HP, Dell and anyone else who’s listening: for the sake of our spines, let’s stop at 20in, hey? Please?