Pain in the Tushiba

So after years and years and years of using Big Blue’s Thinkpad’s (last couple years at Matrox, last 7+ years at Intel, so I've used nothing but for a decade), I moved to MS and got a new laptop: A Toshiba Tecra Tablet PC.

Not exactly new though, the one I got was a placeholder to use while I ordered a brand-spankin’ new one. The one I had was an M3, and the new one was an M4.

There were a couple pros with going with the M4:

• Choice of touchpad and eraser mouse (the latter being called “nubbin” mouse or “C**toris” mouse in certain circles). The M4 gives you choice of both (and you can switch either of them off)
• Bigger display (14.1 inch vs 12 inch)
• In-chassis DVD drive (the M3 requires an external one).
• Better CPU, GPU, etc
  

The downsides of the M4:

• It’s GIGANTIC!!!! Starbucks-goer-giving-looks-of-“What does this guy think this is? A drive-in?”-big
• It’s heavy (see above point)

Those things said, I went with the M4. The lack of nubbin-mouse (I use an external but not at coffee-shop, on plane, etc) was a show stopper, as was having to lug an extra drive around and squinting at the screen was no fun. The touchpads drive me nuts, as my thumbs brush against them while typing which results in accidental double-click, sending the cursor off to wherever... but I digress.

My back is not pleased though, and has vowed to stage a rebellion first chance it gets (probably on the way to TGS, with my luck).

The thing's so big it doesn't fit in my briefcase! Now I need a new one of those too!