ONDON, July 8 — Business travelers tired of lugging their laptops around should come here to get a glimpse of a less cumbersome future.

All over the world, in response to demand for the high-technology amenities that their guests enjoy in their homes and offices, hotels are racing to install high-speed Internet access, e-mail and a variety of wireless and digital services. The TriBeCa Grand Hotel in New York, owned by Hartz Mountain Industries, for instance, has in-room broadband Internet access and wireless keyboards so customers can surf the Net from bed. Each room at the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados has a 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV screen guests can use to roam the Web.

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And the Plaza Hotel in New York, part of the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts chain, equips each room with a stand-alone personal computer. By the end of July, all of the Fairmont's 38 properties, including the Plaza, the Fairmont San Francisco and the Fairmont Dubai, will offer wireless Internet access in public spaces, enabling guests to check their e-mail messages while having cocktails in the bar, for instance.

Now, several hotels in London have moved to the forefront of this trend by combining fully equipped personal computers, high-speed Internet access and digital movies and music on demand in one unit, industry specialists say. The systems are often paired with flat-screen television sets that provide all the clarity of a PC without the problem of reformatting pages to fit traditional Web-TV services.

Designed by Neos Interactive, a privately held British company that bought the technology from a group of researchers at Trinity College Dublin in 1999, these all-in-one systems combine, in the space of a traditional television cabinet, a computer, scanner, printer and fax machine. Using a wireless keyboard, guests can collect e-mail messages, surf the Internet, download digital movies and music on demand, and even listen to local radio stations from cities around the world.

The Lanesborough, part of St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, became the first hotel in London to install the system two years ago in each of its 95 rooms. Now, the Dorchester, managed by the Dorchester Group, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, is installing the same system in every one of the hotel's 250 rooms as part of a broader refurbishment. Fourteen rooms currently have the system, with 40 expected to be up and running by the end of July and the rest in September.

"This type of system is at the leading edge of hotel room technology," said Alex Kristou, a partner with the Travel Services Group of the consulting firm Accenture.

Lesley Ashplant, a consultant with Ernst & Young, said it was becoming the norm for high-end hotels to offer high-speed Internet access and videos on demand. "But," she added, "actually providing a PC and having it all integrated in one unit is quite unusual."

Since the systems are custom-designed, hotels choose the hardware separately. The Dorchester, for instance, is installing NEC 42-inch plasma screens in 90 rooms and 28-inch Loewe sets in the others. Each room will have a Compaq computer with a Pentium 4 processor complete with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. No top-notch entertainment system is viable today without broadband, and so The Dorchester and the Lanesborough installed fiber optic cables that provide a high-speed Internet connection. Rather than paying the local telephone rate for Internet access, guests will pay a flat fee of £15, or $22.83, for access over a 24-hour period.

Executives who are able to eke out a few moments of leisure can choose from 60 movies on demand for £10 each, or $15.22, for unlimited access over a 24-hour period. Just as if they were watching a digital video recorder at home, guests can pause, rewind and fast-forward the films. Those in need of a little music while they work can download up to 5,000 tracks (£3.50 over 24 hours), or tune into local radio stations over the Internet like WNYC public radio in New York. E-butlers are on hand for questions.

Robert Bradford, who is married to the author Barbara Taylor Bradford and who is a regular guest at the Dorchester when he travels to London from his home in New York on business about twice a month, said he had tried the system and was impressed.

"I travel a lot," said Mr. Bradford, who also frequently shuttles between New York, California and Paris on business for Gemmy Productions, a TV production company he owns that produces made-for-TV movies of his wife's books. "And I've never seen anything like this in a hotel."

"The most amazing thing," said Mr. Bradford, speaking from his room at the Dorchester, "is you get local radio stations. I've been listening to TMPC in Los Angeles, and getting New York weather and the latest stock quotes from Bloomberg Radio."

Dermot Desmond, the Irish billionaire and chairman of the Sandy Lane Hotel, who also is a frequent guest at the Dorchester, said he found the system invaluable.

Other frequent business travelers said they were unsure whether they would really use all the bells and whistles the system provided. For instance, they doubted whether the service would eliminate the need to lug around laptops, which provide access to their company's servers and e-mail accounts as well as documents on their hard drive.

"The movies and music is gee-whiz and interesting, but with the small amount of time you spend in the room on a business trip if you can get your e-mails fast and make yourself efficient, that's the most important thing," said Barry Frey, managing director of international advertising sales for the Hallmark Channel, a unit of Crown Media Holdings.

Still, other executives said such a system would greatly simplify their lives on the road.

"Hotels are way behind the curve," said Jay Firestone, the chief executive of Fireworks Entertainment, a unit of the Canwest Global Communications Corporation of Canada. Topping the list of Mr. Firestone's grievances are waiting hours to download e-mail messages from traditional telephone lines and a lack of understanding on the part of hotel staff that business often goes on around the clock. While staying in a hotel in Paris, for instance, Mr. Firestone said he was reprimanded for working past midnight.

Mr. Firestone, whose company produces and distributes films and television shows like "Rules of Engagement" and "La Femme Nikita," said he often must make casting and editing decisions while traveling by downloading photos and daily rushes onto his laptop.

"I have to make judgment calls off what I see," he said, "so having a large-screen TV and high-speed access would be fantastic."