We did spot some signs to Broadgate Circle but it is not for nothing that the signwriters of Britain are famous for their sense of humour. They played their usual trick of providing excellent directions to a point where we were completely lost, and then leaving us stranded.

Most of us nevertheless arrived in time for an Intel sausage and a speech about how the new Centrino Pro technology would at last allow IT managers to sleep at night. Basically Pro adds new security and management features to the Centrino bundle and most of it sounded pretty good, in theory.

A new hardware filter monitors data traffic on the notebook and shuts it down in the event of any suspicious activity, such as an email sending your banking details to Themob@mafia.com. Or a virus sending a pornographic link to your entire mailing list.

Arun Shenoy, UK business director, announced that draft 11n would boost wireless performance fivefold, though no-one seemed quite sure what this meant. He also announced that it would double the range, without mentioning that this could quadruple the number of contending 11n networks at a time when Intel is encouraging their use for high-definition TV streaming. Well, there's always Cat 5...

We were then introduced to Intel's Lazarus act...raising a remote machine from the Blue Screen of Death. This is part of what the company calls Active Management Technology, introduced on desktops under the brand VPro late last year and now extended to notebooks.

The idea is that a company can use a single console to manage and maintain its entire complement of computers, fixed or mobile. The single difference is that, though desktops can be woken up over the network even when switched off, notebooks have to be powered up to be accessible.

The reason, according to the Intel man showing off the technology, is that leaving the wireless on would drain the battery, annoy the airlines, and perhaps bring down a few planes and start a Third World War.

Boys in my day used to make crystal sets that could pick up Timbuktu using no power at all, so I asked why they didn't stick in a low-drain receiver to pick up a wake-up call?

"Perhaps in a future model," the man said, twiddling with his management console. He selected a notebook from one of those on the network. "This one has power. See how I can wake it up."

Rider 232 of Murphy's Law kicked in. As product managers from Seoul to San Francisco know, this states that if anything can go wrong, it will happen in front of journalists. The notebook Lazarus remained resolutely dead.

"It was working early this morning," said the Intel man. "Damn pre-production model. You can't rely on them."

He chose another model across the room which also required a reset.

This dutifully burst into life, to the delight and relief of a colleague standing next to it in evident terror of becoming a second victim of Murphy's Law.

Intel gave us all an umbrella and we left. Despite the hassles I can't wait to get my paws on one of the new models, especially HP's new tablet convertible - and even more especially Toshiba's first ultra-mobile, which I was reliably informed will launch in a couple of months.