Wires are the curse of modern computer products. They are fiddly to connect and when you have half a dozen gizmos to contend with -handheld computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and so on - it's like wading through spaghetti. Bluetooth, a wireless wiring system, offers relief from all that, and a lot of hopes are riding on its success. But there is still some way to go, to judge by prototypes of a forthcoming notebook PC.

The Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook B2547, right, is expected to be the first notebook PC with built-in Bluetooth capability, and is due to appear in the UK at the end of July. Small, sleek and silver - it certainly looks the part. In fact, it looks much the same as the current B2175 model.

The first problem with Bluetooth is that you need at least two devices for it to work. Fujitsu in Japan says it will have Bluetooth-enabled printers and phones on sale there, but I had to borrow two notebooks. I also tried two digital cameras, which plug into the PC's USB port.

The idea was to do video conferencing between rooms, using Microsoft's NetMeeting. And it worked, after a fashion.

Getting the kit running was not straightforward, but Fujitsu's Mike Tinsley talked me through it on the phone. But when software on one PC crashed, I could not get it going again unaided.

Bluetooth ought to work like infrared connections, invisibly. But setting up these Bluetooth devices to work in Windows Me was more like installing Ethernet cards when you have no idea what sort of addresses to use.

When Bluetooth was running, both sound and vision worked, but the quality looked poor on a notebook PC screen. It would have been impressive on, say, a Palm IIIc handheld or a mobile phone, but PC users have been spoiled by DVD graphics and high quality screens.

Of course, these were prototypes and it would be unfair to review them as though they were finished products.

Tinsley says the Bluetooth system will be pre-installed. I hope so. To make our dreams come true, Bluetooth devices will have to work transparently, simply popping up an alertbox when they detect another Bluetooth device within range. Infrared devices, including my IBM ThinkPad 240 running Windows 2000, can do that today.

Unless Fujitsu's boffins in Japan have not got this more or less sorted by now, none of them can afford to sleep until the end of July.