To be absolutely crystal clear:

I am not saying don't use a laptop.

I am not saying you have to use cloud inference.

I am saying using a laptop for inference is dumb. If you want private inference:

- use a dgx spark or similar plugged in at home

- set up tailscale so you can connect from anywhere

- use your phone as a hotspot on the go

- work on your laptop, using tailscale to connect to your home inference server if you're on the go

This gets you everything except for the few hours you might be on an airplane.