My husband just got a 13 inch MacBook Pro M1, and he needs a new trackball and external alpha numeric, straight keyboard. He hates trackpads. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
PS: He just loves the M1 and it’s a million times better than the old one. I’m waiting till next year to upgrade.
I believe these are two which are highly recommended:
I love Logitech keyboards. I have the Craft and it’s weighted with nice travel and gently scalloped backlit keys. Feels so smooth to use, solid on the desk. My wife uses my old Logitech k850, designed to be portable, light but with many of the features mentioned above.
Both can control 3 Bluetooth devices (iPad and iPhone also for me, my wife isn’t bothered with this). The Craft has a large knob you can set to do different things. I just use for volume and play/pause. I’ve always said that the quality of your experience is directly related to the quality of your input devices. It’s pricey but did I say I love it?
I, too, can’t use trackpads well and never loved mice, and I’ve been using Kensington trackballs since forever. I like the wired kind, not Bluetooth. Many years ago I tried a Logitech trackball, but found it not as good as the Kensington; don’t recall why, and maybe today’s Logitech would suit me, but I’ll stay with what I have.
I can’t comment on trackballs, but I love the full-size, cordless, rechargeable Apple keyboard that came with my iMac Pro and which I believe is available separately.
Jeremy
I’ve used Kensington Trackballs for almost 30 years, starting with their TurboMouse ADB for Macintosh computers. Here is a link to 6 models, 4 wired and 2 wireless. I don’t know if they have a wired version with an USB-C connector so you should ask them about it (or if they have an adapter).
Is that the KB that can be used as “cable connected” KB by just leaving a Lightning-USB cable plugged in?
Yes. The Apple Magic Keyboard works as a USB wired keyboard when connected via a Lightening-USB cable.
The only downside (compared to the discontinued USB keyboards) is that it doesn’t include a USB hub, so you need to use another USB port on your computer or hub if you want to also use a wired connection for a trackpad, mouse, game controller or other device that you would normally daisy-chain from your keyboard.
It turns out that my husband’s million year old Apple keyboard works just fine when plugged in to the new MacBook Pro. And he found an ancient wireless trackball in a desk drawer that plugged into the usbc to VGA Multiport Adapter that he bought along with the new MacBook Pro.
An interesting twist to the trackball story…my husband is left handed and just about every trackball he looked at was configured for right handed people. This includes the Logitechs, are both our weapons of choice. And there were very few ambidextrous choices.
I have used a Kensington “Expert Mouse” since just about forever. I love this thing so much I have a brand new one, unopened, in storage against the unlikely event the “in service” unit ever fails.
I have tried a couple, different styles and always came back to the Expert Mouse. (Back in the day they had a version just for Mac called TurboMouse, now long discontinued.) This one is EASILY worth the money and taking a chance on. The “driver” software (really just an app) “KensingtonWorks” is also good - very customizable. It should work JUST AS WELL for “southpaws”. Good luck! 
I love trackballs, probably because my first Mac was a PowerBook 165c. I’m also a big fan of Kensington Trackballs. My favourite, the Slimblade isn’t listed at the link above, you can see it here.
Unfortunately Kensington’s current software leaves a lot to be desired (some keyboard combos can’t be registered) so I’m currently using SteerMouse to program it. Also, I see USB Overdrive, an old favourite, finally has a beta to work under Big Sur.