I remember when I switched from a MS Trackball Explorer to a Kensington Slimblade Trackball. I got drunk one night and spent a million credits in Valks learning to fight with the new trackball.

Speaking of trackballs... in my initial post you can also see I'm using one. I actually find it very easy to steer a ship with... but that may be because I'm using it for about 9 months now, so I know the sensitivity of it and so on. I haven't gotten my hands on other ships yet - meaning most useful ships (I want a Behemoth). That will be interesting to see.

I am guessing if you just want to go with a keyboard and mouse, then you will want to make sure the keyboard can handle lots of simultaneous key presses (for example, if you are trying to thrust both down and left and also accelerate/decelerate while rolling.) I forget what the term is for that in keyboard lingo (anti-ghosting or something similar.)
One of the challenges with playing on a low-cost laptop, is they can't often handle more than a couple.

Looking forward to trying VO in VR