There might also be a hint of "kids these days"-style ageism, where it's just implicitly assumed that nobody younger than author's age minus five has any idea a

There might also be a hint of "kids these days"-style ageism, where it's just implicitly assumed that nobody younger than author's age minus five has any idea about technology which is in any way "old" or "outdated" or "not being actively advertised on TV" (and that's another thing... ) And, yeah, laptops are in no way obsolete. Hell, the multi-billion-dollar PC gaming industry relies on desktop PCs, with towers and separate monitors, which is an even older design than laptops are (although, admittedly, not by much, depending on what you're willing to call a "laptop" as opposed to a "portable" or "luggable").