What I suggest is to drop by an Office Depot kind of place if convenient and purchase a mouse that's either blue tooth enabled or has a USB dongle that can plug into the laptop. Batteries in the mouse will last a very long time. Emphasize long long time.
First time you fire up the laptop with the new mouse, the laptop will automatically recognize the new device and will activate on board drivers or download drivers via the internet. From my 30 year experience with laptops, this is the easiest and best laptop improvement that can be made. If you can, get a mouse with the scroll wheel on top and side buttons. Once you get used to the buttons and wheel, you can really zip through things fast with low effort.
Touch pads are infuriating until they're not. They take some practice but afterwards are faster and offer more options than a mouse. Those who use a full size keyboard instead of a laptop keyboard can buy a separate touch pad.
When the first computer mouse came out, users had a difficult time but mastered it quickly. Of course, they had Minesweeper to help them.
In addition to being faster than the mouse, the payoff is that you can always revert to a mouse if you're using a different computer but if you're ever stuck with just the touch pad, you'll have no problem.
I've used a red keyboard button, a mouse, a track ball, and now a touch pad. For ease, speed, and convenience, I rank a touch pad best, a track ball second best, a mouse a distant third, and a red keyboard button/joystick a very distant last.