Did you copy the character data from the desktop to the laptop?

You have to move the folder over manually--it doesn't get pulled down from the servers. Under the My Documents folder, you should see a My Games folder, followed by one labeled for FFXIV. The folder you want is nested in there and will start with FFXIV_CHR, followed by a long number. Need to transfer the entire FFXIV_CHR folder over under a similar path on the other system (it may look a bt different on a different Windows version). This will also bring your gears sets and hotbar/macro lines over as well. Will need to keep them in synch if you have a habit of moving back and forth between the PC and laptop.