I use laptop as my main computer for a while now. Generally I am happy with this setup and I rarely miss the desktop computer. Ok, that is a bit of a lie. I do occasionally miss tinkering. And I do miss excitement of the upgrades. Especially now that AMD Ryzen is out.
There is an excellent AnandTech article about AMD Ryzen where they go really deep into details of the architecture and I won't reiterate much here. Suffice to say that AMD seems to have created something as significant as Athlon when it comes to innovation.
Nobody is sure if AMD is going to succeed with the whole Zen architecture despite good first impressions. Let's not forget its main architect left and that definitely wasn't painless. We also have no idea how Intel will react and whether it will simply strangle AMD in price war.
However it does seem that, at least in the short term, AMD has actually given Intel something to think about. And that will breed innovation on both sides. If we are lucky we might even see a repeat of the whole Pentium-Athlon fight. Regardless of AMD ultimately losing, that was a renaissance of computer architecture.
It is an exciting time to be a desktop owner - may it last.
PS: If you are interested in processor design and all the craziness that goes with it, check Computer Architecture course. While it really covers only older generation processor design, it has more than enough information to get your head spinning.