Hum, as long as you have the tools, it doesn't matter how good they are, you can still learn to use them and thus advance your knowledge and experience. Do you need a race car to learn how to drive? No...and editing and soft proofing on a laptop is completely doable assuming you have a profiled display (yes, you CAN profile a laptop) Photoshop and/or Lightroom, decent printer profiles and a printer with ink & paper.
The whole purpose of a workshop is to learn not just to use expensive equipment. I teach high end workshops and my attendees don't complain about using their own equipment because I teach them how to do what they want to learn–assuming one wants to actually learn rather than pontificate.
As far as ignoring Andrew, your choice but then you won't learn what he can teach you...assuming you want to learn, do you?
Ok, now I'm confused. From your well marked and dog eared book in my condo: "Using a cheap commodity priced display is not doing your image evaluating any favors." (Page 69, paperback), and, a little further down the line, "I don't make any accurate color determination while I'm in the field on a laptop..." (Page 70). So, which is it? I still prefer to believe that the seven thousand dollars I've spent on a new Macpro and Eizo, housed in a dark, grey room with controlled lighting (which, in real estate terms, is another large expense in my neighborhood) is the way to go. Now, suddenly, I'm told that a laptop used for image evaluation and editing is comparable? Jeez, it's hard enough to get it right with what I have. I can't imagine the difficulty of trying to do subtle corrections with a laptop in some improvised classroom for the four days or whatever of some seminar.
Listen, I think I'm pretty aware of the economics of the whole workshop industry. It seems that, with the horrible disruption of the whole business of photography, workshops, or seminars, are now a or maybe the major source of cash flow for many, including the best. Now, to me, it seems almost impossible these days to maintain a proper educational printing lab that is profitable, because it requires a very well developed space filled with a lot of very expensive equipment that has to be properly maintained and updated. I've been asked twice in the last few years to help establish classes for Photoshop, but when I lay out the bottom line, that idea fizzles. And, no, they're not coming to my home. So, a compromise is made, and it's "bring your laptop". I understand, that's the only real viable way to do that. But, no way I'm spending that kind of money to travel a few thousand miles to do it wrong, the way I see it. (Btw, I don't even own a laptop! I backup my images when travelling, and save any sort of work for home. I own an IPad mini for travel) No, I'll sit here with your book, in my expensive print room, spend half a workshop's cost (just the workshop! Don't get me going on travel expenses.) on ink, the other half on paper, and figure it out myself. I'm not rich, and I'm not operating a business that can write that trip off as a tax deduction, so, this is my best bet, I hope. I mean, when I first stated learning Photoshop many many moons ago, I had a few awful experiences, and my employer was picking up the fee! Like, walk out of a classroom after five sessions, and think, that was a waste of time, there's gotta be a better way. And these were accredited institutions in the middle of Manhattan! So, I buckled down with Adobe literature first, and then more "advanced" and nuanced literature, and learned much better, at my own pace. It turned out Ok. It's even better today, with essentially free knowledge everywhere on the internet, if you know how to find it. This forum is one. Thanks to this forum.
Not trying to be a jerk here. My funds are limited. If I'm going to travel, I'd rather save it for a few weeks or more around Tuscany or our national parks. Or, ink. Damn ink is expensive. Oh, and a new camera. Always need a new camera. And a new lens. And.......
Thanks for the book.