Sometimes the old adage “bigger is not better” really does say it all.

Perhaps looking to stand out from the crowded field of tablet computer makers, Toshiba launched their new 13.3 inch Excite 13 tablet on Tuesday to some fanfare, but mostly confusion. The Excite line replaces Toshiba’s older line of Thrive slates.

Unlike the majority of tablets out in the market that are 7-10 inches and weigh under 2 pounds, the Excite 13 is, well, bigger: in addition to the larger screen, the tablet weighs in at fairly hefty 2.2 pounds. The tablet, which runs on Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android 4.0 operating system, is being marketed and sold with a separate stand for users to prop it up when convenient.

Oh, and one more item: the Excite comes with a price tag of up to $750 for the top of the line 64 GB model, well in excess of the under $500 prices charged for, example, an Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad or Amazon

(NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle.

Toshiba executives are clearly pinning their hopes on an outstanding customer experience in using the tablet vs. worrying about the portability or ease of use of the machine. Of course, that assumes Excite contains enough features or bells and whistles to make the “experience” worthwhile. Not everyone is buying in on that one.

Jared Spool, CEO of User Face Engineering told Wired “This is the sort of typical maneuver of just adding another feature without improving the actual user experience. It’s just bigger, and it’s not clear to me that anyone is asking for bigger. You can only get the iPad in one size and nobody is saying, ‘Gee, it just feels a little too small to me.’”

Bigger may be better for certain situations, however, such as watching movies, or viewing photos, or perhaps playing video games as part of a larger group setting. Indeed, Jared Leavitt, a Toshiba spokesman explained to Wired “the Excite 13 is what we see as a home tablet. The larger size makes it an ideal kitchen tablet. You can watch how-to videos while you’re cooking, or look up recipes. And then later, you can bring it into the living room to watch videos with the kids, or to look at family photos with friends.”

However, the majority of people use their tablets in solo pursuits, and the future seems to be all about getting smaller, lighter, and, of course, even less expensive.

For Toshiba fans, however, the news isn’t all bad. The company will offer smaller and less expensive versions of the Exite starting in June, with a more standard 7-inch containing 16 GB of storage for $500, and a 10-inch model with 32 GB for $579.

So how big is too big when it comes to tablet computing? Toshiba is going to find out soon enough.