Ive been on many flights with a piece of hand luggage (i.e a large holdall weighing about 5kgs), my handbag, a few carrier bags (duty free etc) and a laptop. I think many airlines recognise that a laptop tends to have to go in its carry case and not in the hand luggage and that its a seperate item from a handbag.
In total, im probably carrying about 16kgs of crap in my arms LOL but their main point of concern is whether your one piece of hand luggage weighs more than 6kg (if it does they tend to give you a VS ditty bag to spread stuff into anyway)
In total, im probably carrying about 16kgs of crap in my arms LOL but their main point of concern is whether your one piece of hand luggage weighs more than 6kg (if it does they tend to give you a VS ditty bag to spread stuff into anyway)