Even if you don't need the portability of laptop, consider the following. Laptops include LCD screens, which are easy to read and can show more "screen real estate" than conventional monitors. A 15" laptop screen can contain as much detail as a 17" old school model.
If you don't like using a laptop on your lap, it's easy to prop it on a stand to put the screen at eye level, and plug in an conventional keyboard and mouse if you like.
Laptops can be silent. Laptops can quickly suspend and resume, making them totally quiet, while providing a much faster alternative to shutting down and booting up again.
Rethink portability. You don't have to travel to enjoy the portability of laptop. It can be nice to compute on the couch or in the kitchen for a change of pace. Also, there are now some free "wireless hotspots" around Richmond, like Charlie's Coffee bar, providing additional locations to work and play on the 'net.
Laptops are also fairly upgradable. They can typically support more memory, a larger hard drive, a DVD or CDRW upgrade, not to mention the many USB devices that can be plugged in as, as well as the special slot laptops have for PCMCIA cards.
Laptops save energy. You'll be even more prepared to live up the grid with a power-saving laptop!
Last but not least, laptops can now be bought at prices comparable with desktop systems, removing a key barrier to their adoption.