Running Roon on a laptop is what I consider a basic set up. A good way to determine if you can get used Roon app interface and its features. If you like the Roon user interface (UI) then you can look into commercially successful hardware to take full advantage of its potential. I would read up on @sns posts. He has pretty much laid out the road map for anyone who wants to learn, build a SOTA streaming experience using Roon.
Some folks will make their case that running Roon render and server separately will yield the best SQ. That’s not my experIence. To my earlier comment, the devil is in the details. If you pick a component that has managed to carefully execute both functionalities (end point + server) in one box then running a Roon server remotely is not necessary and would also keep things simple.
I am using a one box purpose Roon render/server + DAC that allows me to take full advantage of Roon features and renders amazing sound quality.