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The HP Envy TouchSmart 15 measures 37.5x24.5x3cm and weights a tad under 2.6kilos.

The visible screen is 34x19.5cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 15.6inches which shows the same resolution as most panels, it also means you could connect to a panel by VGA rather than HDMI and still get the same resolution.

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The unit supplied to me has a Quad Core i7 processor running at 2.4GHz and has a massive 16GB of RAM.

Looking at the external connections the left side has HDMI, two USB2 ports, SD Card slot and two pin hole LEDs. The front is clear as is the rear; the right side has a 3.5mm headphone socket, two further USB2 ports, an Ethernet port and the DC input.

One thing missing is an optical drive but of course if this is required you could get a USB one.

The screen is sadly very reflective with the light behind you, while the keyboard surround, the base and screen back are grey – and so do not show fingermarks – the screen surround is black and does.

There is a five centimetre strip behind the keyboard, this has the on/off button near the left side, the central 25cm of that strip is a pair of rather good speakers. The screen goes back only 30degrees beyond vertical as it then contacts the base of the unit.

A 1.5cm strip exists either side of the 101 key keyboard where all but the top row – function keys – are full size, the keys have a positive but silent movement to aid good typing.

9.5cm is the strip in front of the keyboard, the 12x6.5cm trackpad is mounted 1cm from the front, 9.5cm from the left and 17cm from the right. Toward the right side is a fingerprint scanner.

The F12 function key has a pin hole LED inserted towards the right side to denote when Wi-Fi is connected.

This is touch screen unit and here Windows 8 makes sense.

These units always arrive with an image to an earlier time so my first job was to do 65 updates to bring it to the point where I could download and install Windows 8.1.

Booting takes 18 seconds and shutdown 9 seconds. A full charge from total discharged state is 95 minutes when switched off. Normal use with Wi-Fi is around four hours between charges.

As I found out when I did my first Windows 8.1 upgrade you no longer have a Windows Experience Score. When running Windows 8 it was Processor 7.8, Memory 7.8, Graphics 6.6, Gaming Graphics 6.6 and Hard Disc 5.9.

The screen is just about the correct distance away for the arm to extend comfortably to use touch. I still have things to learn about Windows 8 – and of course Windows 8.1 – but if your App makes use of it then it can be quick and responsive.

If you want Windows 8 then this is an excellent overall product, I have detailed the only weaknesses I can find. Windows 8 needs touch and this of course has it, it is nice to get a full 1920x1080 screen on a notebook. It is a little heavier because of the touch screen but as stated if you are using it on a Desktop its good and you do have the option to transport.

The HP Envy TouchSmart 15 is available from the link below for £709.99 with free delivery. The model advertised has 8GB of RAM as opposed to the 16GB on the unit sent to me.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DJ3GZAE?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634

http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/laptops/product-detail.html?oid=6446989