On the other hand I know multiple people who basically never move their laptop, and their list of reasons for getting a laptop boils down to "everyone has a laptop", "I've always had a laptop" and "it takes less space". For these people, an eGPU is a reasonable choice.

What about people who game on their laptop (at home) but don't need to game on the go? In that case an eGPU also sounds like a reasonable choice. They can just leave the eGPU at home and still be productive away from their desk.

I'm one of those people. My current laptop came with an eGPU enclosure, and I recently put a 3090 in it. The battery life on the laptop is so bad that it's basically a desktop now constantly connected to the eGPU and power supply. For gaming and resource heavy tasks it works great though, even if a bit loud at times.

I ended up getting a much better and slimmer laptop for actual portable work.

Originally she asked for a desktop. I talked her into a laptop with an eGPU because she has a medical condition that significantly limits her strength and flexibility. I thought splitting the GPU would be best for weight and did not want to burden her with a chonky gaming laptop.