I use a laptop all the time but not as a laptop. I plug a larger 22" monitor into it and use a wireless keyboard and mouse. The computer just sits off to the side. That way I still have the laptop for when we're on the road.

I learned that you do NOT want to shut off the laptop monitor completely. Just turn it all the way down. If it's turned off and something happens where the external monitor doesn't load, you have no monitor at all.

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell

It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.