I use a trackball for my laptop and desktop PC for over 20 years now and highly recommend it. I have one with the ball with the ball under the thumb instead of the middle like this one has though.

It works not just for light gaming, but also "heavy" gaming, like shooters. Just move your thumb instead of your whole arm. Works perfectly well.

And that's not even mentioning how relaxing it is. You can put the trackball anywhere. I like to stretch my arms sometimes and put the trackball away from me or lean back and put it on my lap. It works on any surface.

I use a trackball almost exclusively. I will go back to mice for first person shooters. Mice can move faster and have easier time with pointer accuracy. This is where the sensor on a trackball is very important as it helps a lot with tracking, but mice will always have a edge if you are competitive. For stuff like Cyberpunk that isn't so hard core I have a fine time with my trackball.

Trackballs come in all sorts of different sizes, shapes, and layouts. Which works best is kinda up to your own physiology. That being said i find the thumb-style tend to work out a bit better for sitting on a sofa and plopping it down in random locations. It doesn't need a hard surface, being sideways or odd angles isn't going to bother it.

Another advantage for the trackball is you don't need much room for it. Just need enough room for it to sit on something without falling off.

If I have somewhere flat then I prefer to have the big center ball trackballs. Having a bigger ball with more mass is nice as more energetic movements doesn't cause it to rattle around and it is nice to be able to use multiple fingers.

Laptop trackpads are probably the worst devices ergonomically. It doesn't really matter how nice of quality they are as it is the size and position of them that make them bad to use. It is the repetitive twisting and bending of the wrists to reach them that make them bad.

If you have a very nice trackpad that is on the side of the keyboard then they probably can be very nice, though. I haven't tried them so I can't say anything from experience.

I no longer compute on a couch, but if you like trackballs, I don't see why you wouldn't like trackballs while sitting on a couch. I used to be able to find somewhere to set it, and it was better than using the trackpad.

But if you like trackpads, you might like them more than trackballs. And if you dislike trackballs, you might dislike them more than trackpads.

Trackballs never disappeared, although they're not mainstream anymore; you used to be able to get a trackball to clip to the side of your laptop, or get a laptop with a built in trackball... But times have changed.

Been using a thumb trackball for a few months, it's definitely better than a trackpad for long periods of use. I've tried rebinding the mouse buttons so I could play most light games without touching the keyboard, fun but impractical as mine would need a few more buttons for that.

Tracking quality doesn't depend on the desk surface, though is noticeably smoother after occasional ball cleanings. Overall an interesting experience, and at least better than gaming with wrist/forearm pain.

I use a trackball, you can set it next to you on the couch and just use it normal. As for gaming, I still freak out people when I tell them I use a trackball for gaming.

The only issue is games like Skyrim when lock picking requires moving the mouse around, doing it with a trackball is a painful experience.

Yes, I did for a while. Used an MX Ergo thumb trackball. Initial learning curve for sure, but if one sticks with it it'll become more natural. It was quite comfortable and I felt fast and accurate. FPS games were possible by the time I stopped, as my thumb started to hurt...

Elcom Wireless Trackball (M-RT1DRBK) works great while sitting on a couch. I haven't tried gaming with it unfortunately.