I do not like the touchpads, that most laptops have. They are ok, if you have a quick task to do, but for real work you need a mouse. I often work with my laptop on one knee, and the trackball on the other. But often i touch the touchpad, and the cursor goes somewhere, where it shouldn’t bee. I the disables the pad with the function key, but first after something went wrong.
I am using linux mint 21.3 , and found that it was possible to automatic switch of the pad, when a mouse was connected:
It is so nice when someone has thought about practical issues, and solved then