I ask this because of a friend who never hooks up a mouse to his laptop because he claims he can work just as fast with a trackpad as with a mouse.
My personal experience is the other way around. I find that using the trackpad slows me down because of its inherent lack of precision. Also, moving the cursor seems slower (even when I increase the sensitivity) than with a mouse.
Are there any studies done on this subject matter which are available online?