Pet peeves about my Gigabyte M912

I have been using my Gigabyte M912 for most of my computing needs these days. While I really liked that it is compact, and it can turn into a tablet in a jiffy, it is not one of those notebooks/netbooks I enjoy using for extended periods of time.

For one, the keyboard is way too small. Forget touch-typing; there is no way you can jam all your fingers on it, and I don't have banana fingers. But if you want to get hook it up to a normal keyboard, the screen will be too far away and you won't see anything. So you have to type with missing digits. I had it for over 1 1/2 years and I am still having trouble with it.

The other problem is the glare on that thing. Even though it is the best part M912, the touchscreen blocks a lot of light coming from the LCD screen. So when the ambient light is strong, which happens every time you try to work outdoors, even on a rainy day, all you can see from the screen is a reflection of yourself. I know, self love is the beginning of a life-long romance (thanks Oscar), but that's what the built-in web cam is for. So, whether I like it or not, I have to get myself in a tight, dark corner in an otherwise well-lit room in order to get anything done.

Not to mention, even though I am a Linux guy, I have to be running XP on the M912 for my PowerPoint and design stuff. I also think that VirtualBoxing XP from Linux will be a real pain for me, performance wise. To its credit, I have a lot of CPU intensive programs installed and running (e.g., Inventor, Solidworks, even the whole Adobe suite). The point is, they run, and they run well as they are now, but I don't know if I would want to try this in an OS in an OS.

I do, however, want to get into some programming stuff. I did most of my development on Debian Linux, and I sincerely want to do that on my netbook. Okay, how about running it on Virtualbox? You guessed it, I don't want to be programming in a dark, tight corner, with my fingers all crammed up on the keyboard. So I need something bigger, physically.

For a tiny computer like the M912, I think I have done pretty well with it, and pushed the boundaries on what it is supposed to do, and I like the results. But this is not exactly the most ergonomic unit out on the market. Ergonomic not in the sense of aesthetics, but in the sense that it keeps you from enjoying what you are doing, let alone getting your job done effectively.