Chiclet Keyboards and Recalcitrant Touch Pads

I have a new laptop. It’s very nice, but I really don’t like the keyboard. It’s one of those “chiclet” keyboards (the name is something to do with American chewing gum) that are supposed to save space and be generally wonderful. Well, I don’t like it. I was already having trouble hitting the keys on the left hand side hard enough – now it seems that I can’t hit any key hard enough. And it really is this keyboard, or this type of keyboard; I’ve been using a desktop elsewhere, and that is just fine and dandy (with the possible exception of those tricky A’s).