If you were offered a new PC based on a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 with 1GB of main memory, an 80GB hard drive, an LCD monitor and a 256MB ATi Radeon graphics card, you'd probably be quite impressed. That's a very serviceable specification for a home or business PC, quite capable of handling heavyweight applications like photo and video editing, and of course games. If you were then told that it was a notebook that was on offer, your level of impressed-ness would probably rise dramatically. Ours did.

Mesh's Ultima Plus 3.4GHz is one of a new wave of desktop-replacement notebooks, with a 17.1-inch widescreen TFT panel and size and weight to match. It comes with a vinyl carrying case and you'll need this to lug the 6.25kg (with charger) machine around. Don't expect too much from the batteries, either. With a desktop-style processor and a lot of memory, it will keep your knees warm on cold days, but only for around two hours at a time away from the mains.

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Graphics output comes from an ATi Radeon Mobility 9700 chip, which currently provides the best performance of any mobile graphics chip. Unusually, the Ultima Plus comes with DVI output as well as a standard analogue VGA connection.

When we ran our standard benchmarks, we saw a 3DMark index of 3,293, a fair result for a modest desktop and a very good one for a PC you can slip under one arm. While you might not get a very high frame rate from Doom 3, anything less taxing should be very playable. The multi-channel sound, complete with so-called sub-woofer, gives clear response in the treble frequencies and extends to the baritone, if not bass. Select 5.1 sound, though, not the default desktop stereo.

For more down-to earth uses, the Ultima is well-equipped, with a DVD/CD-RW combo (a DVD rewriter is available as a £59 + VAT upgrade) and a 6-way memory card reader, so you can plug camera or MP3 cards directly in for uploading and downloading. There's no floppy drive, but a good range of USB 2.0 and FireWire ports enables you to connect most external peripherals. There's a Web-Cam built into the lid, too.

If you have a Bluetooth printer or wireless hotspot, the Ultima can make use of both, with built-in Bluetooth and 801.11g Wi-Fi. It picked up our wireless network automatically and was on the Internet without any configuration changes. Mesh bundles a copy of Microsoft Works 8 with the machine. If you need a portable PC instead of a desktop, the Ultima Plus offers a lot at a very attractive price.

One wide-screen desktop-replacement notebook with all the trimmings, please. It looks good in all departments, but what would you expect all this leading-edge hardware to cost in a new notebook? We were pleasantly surprised to see a price tag of under £1,300 including VAT on the Ultima Plus 3.4GHz. At that price, it's something of a bargain.