Is ripping from a laptop as good as a desktop?

better ripping achieved with an outboard tray type device

No difference if you're ripping digital-to-digital. dbPoweramp displays reliability of your transfers and will let you know if there is a problem.
If you're considering A-D or D-A, some of the better solutions involve add-in cards that require a desktop configuration.

no difference if the CD is perfect. If the CD is imperfect a poorer drive will have a harder time of error correction for imperfections.The licensed version of dbPoweramp allows multi CPU support for ripping which may make the better processor machine faster on rips.