My laptop has a numeric keypad actually (Dell inspiron 15). And yes I can't imagine playing without it.
++ large laptops.
I bought a USB numpad for my T60 laptop so I could play.
Lazy Newb Pack comes with a laptop keybinding set that is pretty good.
I've been playing since about 2009 or so, and I've actually almost never used a numeric keypad. Unless I'm forgetting something in some deep part of my settings, you don't actually need anything in particular from the numeric pad that you don't get from a standard laptop keyboard layout.