It would be pretty annoying to have to unplug/plug in everything that the previous commenter mentioned every time you wanted to move your laptop. So for something that’s meant to be a portable work station, I think it makes sense to use a stationary adapter over a bunch of individual ports on the laptop itself. It would be nice if it was common for laptops to come with an adapter that includes all the ports that are commonly used though.
Ehhhh, your “counterpoint” would apply to a laptop that has all the ports too though. If you’re plugging so many things into it regularly, then maybe you should just have a desktop instead of a laptop full of ports. But honestly, I don’t think it’s a very strong counterpoint either way.
When I worked in an office space before getting to work from home, having a dock was super handy for being able to take my laptop to meetings where I needed to access info or take meeting notes. I had multiple meetings like that per day so unplugging and plugging everything in before/after every meeting would have sucked. My work laptop is a Thinkpad with all the ports as well, but I only ever used the USB-C port to connect to the dock at my desk.