You actually can customize the size of the dock, and have it set up to hide/show based on mouse position or keyboard shortcuts. There's a lot of options if you

You actually can customize the size of the dock, and have it set up to hide/show based on mouse position or keyboard shortcuts. There's a lot of options if you install "unity-tweak-tool" There are also some nice alternative icon sets, like the Numix icons. Overall, I really like Unity now compared to when I first tried it a few years ago, and I'd rather use it than Windows 7 or 8. But it probably does need a couple of tweaks to fit your needs.