Followup to my previous post.

[randomness]

It is probably not a coincidence that I am searching for a netbook.

Large keyboard is a priority, as is small size and weight. Support for the Sierra Wireless AirCard 595u is also a priority.

I recognize these priorities may be contradictory. So it goes. There are constraints.

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Does that 1st priority _exist_?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

You have larger hands than I do.

There's a tipping point for me where the keyboard becomes big enough, but I have to try them to find out whether any given keyboard works for me.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I have an HP Mini (1000 I think, I'd have to look at it at home) and it has a 92% size keyboard, which is great. (the ~ and 1 key are smaller than that, but everything else is 92% size, which was pretty much my *only* priority -- close to full-size keyboard).

Not sure if it supports that wireless card or not.

[mamamoira.livejournal.com]

Check out this page at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_netbooks) for a not-entirely-up-to-date comparison chart, one column of which is keyboard size expressed in %-age of full-size keyboards.

You'll note that they generally fall into one of three camps: 89%, 92%, and above. I'm using an Acer Aspire One D250, but the keyboard is distinctly on the small side -- not a problem for me, as I have smaller hands, but I notice the difference when switching between it and my desktop.

I'd suggest finding a store that has a few different brands on display (Walmart, BestBuy, whatever) that you know the percentage sizes for, and try them out. There's the occasional insane-layout to watch out for as well (like the left CTRL key not being in the right place, or the arrow key layout interfering with the size of the right shift key, that kind of thing).

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Thanks for the helpful pointer!

My hands are also relatively small, but I think I prefer the keyboards in the "above" category. I've been trying out netbook keyboards everytime I encounter them, and that's the main conclusion I'm coming to.

[rfrancis]

Let me note that -- and I realize this SOMEWHAT defeats the purpose -- the BTC 6100C thin USB keyboard I got for Christmas is awesome and would be a swell add-on for when someone needed to do some serious typing. Very little wasted space on the thing (as with all BTC keyboards I've ever used) but gets the job done and the feel on the scissor-style keys is surprisingly good.

[elisaana.livejournal.com]

When I was looking at netbooks last spring, HPs offered closest-to-standard keyboards.

(Given that my laptop was rather old, I ended up getting a ThinkPad touch-screen instead, which is about the size and weight of a textbook. It's working well (several profs have these for presentations, and it's helpful for note-taking), but I get the sense that the upcoming iSlate and the competition it will inspire will result in lots of cool software and hardware advances.)

Good luck with your search!

[jab2.livejournal.com]

the EEE netbook product line has one that's full size keyboard, though when it came out it was by far the most expensive of the line and at $700 one can buy a pretty nifty anything-else.
as for whether the ACER thing will work in EEE products, i have no idea, as I don't know what that is :)

[dirque.livejournal.com]

The Dell mini9/10's allow you to hackintosh them so you can use Mac software without investing in Apple's premium priced hardware.