I also find it gets in the way with doing everything with a keyboard in my editor and then suddenly my cursor focus is changed by my palm touching the touchpad.

I also find it gets in the way with doing everything with a keyboard in my editor and then suddenly my cursor focus is changed by my palm touching the touchpad. At the same time having the extra spacer on the laptop as a wrist rest is pretty good, imo ergonomically better than a standard external keyboard (opinion informed by countless physio visits to sort out RSI). Also the built in trackpad is substantially better than moving hand position to an external mouse.