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Lappy = portable and compact. They are pretty good now and if you plan to carry it around, or don't want something that takes a lot of space and you aren't interested in parts, go ahead. If you want a bigger screen, keyboard, or mouse you can just USB them.
That's basically what I do.
I have a mid-level MacBook Pro (laptop). I wanted to do some gaming on it so I had some extra RAM installed when I bought it just to play it safe; and it handles that load with no problem.
I put the laptop on a cooling pad (a laptop pad equipped with fans, easily purchased from Staples, nothing special) over by the TV. I hooked it up to the big-screen TV so that I don’t have to get up close to the small laptop screen; using the big TV screen is easier on my eyes. And I also use a wireless mouse and a full keyboard on a USB extension cord. The laptop is plugged into the wall socket, of course.
So basically I sit in the middle of the room at a table with the mouse on the table and the keyboard in my lap and use the TV as my screen. The laptop sits over by the TV, untouched. I use the TV remote to play with volume or switch the TV between use for the computer and normal use.
The toughest part of this set-up was setting up the TV hook-up for the first time. That took a little research for how to arrange the settings on the computer and TV.
Then when I want to travel, I just unhook all the cords and walk off with the laptop. I can just use the laptop itself for quick jobs, or I can take along some of the accessories (like the cooling pad) if I’m going to be putting in a lot of time on the laptop while traveling.