Is MySQL Replication appropriate for keeping a laptop in sync?
Replication is a tool specifically designed for load handling and failover--not well suited to online/offline syncing. Most replication systems fail immediately on losing connection with a host, and it is up to the admin to resolve the situation, hopefully while one or more of the machines in the cluster are still functional.

What you need is more of a snapshot/restore, or possibly a queuing method. I had one of my team write a simple tool for point-in-time recovery on mysql that may meet your need, although it isn't maintained. We use it in many of our applications.

It uses binary logging to bring hosts up to any point in time. I would suggest continuing replication with the slave server, and using a tool like this for hosts that go offline occasionally.

https://github.com/bryanagee/Pamiris-MySQL-Backup/branches