You say you can see the files on your desktop. Is that through File manager, shared folders? If so, you'll just need to set up sharing on certain folders on your laptop, then you'll have access to the files in the same way. There's some info on WinXP file sharing here.
you can setup hamachi on your n810 and your laptop and then you can securely access your laptop's shared folders from anywhere provided that you are both connected to the internet. Details here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=17955 BTW, you're a linux guru by now right?