I’ve been on a Wacom tablet (without display) for almost three decades now.
I was given one free, when Wacom was my client in my first job, and after a couple of days of awkwardness have never looked back.
In that time I have owned 4. Just upgraded to a 2025 model (the latest) recently.
I have large hands and using a mouse means my hand is resting more in the desk than the mouse. I find it uncomfortable and inaccurate.
I love being able to do graphical things with a pen and though I love the trackpad, prolonged use causes discomfort due to needing to keep my fingers under tension. The more precision you need on a trackpad the worse it gets.
I think the learning curve on tablets is hard to overcome. They feel weird for the first few hours. It’s worth trying to overcome.
Also around cheap tablets. Wacom survive for a reason.
I too have ended up with a pen tablet. XP-Pen mini 7"
Broke my wrist snowboarding which ended up with my wrist getting pinned back together. After it surgically "fixed" and healed and I started using that hand again, I got super inflamed tendons in my wrist to the point it would wake me up a night and barely able to use a normal mouse at work. I ended up trying 3 different types of ergo mice, none of which helped. In desperation I ended up ordering the pen tablet, it felt good in my hand right away and after struggling with brain/hand/cursor location for 2 weeks it's become my preferred method. I mapped the shortcut keys on the tablet to copy/paste/middle click/ double click which is awesome.
For me the tablet lives right in-front of the keyboard, just like a laptop trackpad. I tried off to the side, but couldn't get used to it.