anyone using their laptop as a desktop w/ 2nd monitor/kybd/mouse?

[robfilms]

i'm in the process of selling some older family macs (emac/1.42 & g5imac/2.0) now that both of my daughters have newish intel macbooks.

i'm now wondering if i can use my 2008 mbp santa rosa as our family desktop. my wife doesn't like the keypad on the mbp and wants a larger screen.

(my concern is about the need for an external hard drive to store the family's itune and iphoto library)

i'm looking for real-world experience from those who use their laptops with external monitors/keyboards/mouse and/or use an external hard drive for their itunes/iphoto libraries.

pros/cons?

thanks in advance

be well

rob