HP's Elitebook feels oddly anachronistic. Perhaps it's the black keys on the plastic faux aluminium design, with the darker grey touch-pad that makes it feel oh-so '80s. It could be the round buttons at the top right that toggle the Wi-Fi, load the browser or mute the volume, or the slimline button at the top left that harkens back to an age when VCRs were king.

Or maybe it's the incredible thickness of the machine when laptops are meant to be getting thinner. Chunky is the word we're searching for here.

It's not heavy, though, and HP's made sure the extra height has been taken advantage of; stuffing in two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 (one including an eSATA port), a DVD drive, ExpressCard 54 slot, FireWire, SD/MMC card reader, DisplayPort, VGA, a SecureCard reader, headphone and microphone jacks, gigabit Ethernet and a good ol' 56Kbps modem.