It depends on the parallel port.
Mach has got to be able to control the parallel port directly through windows, and you may very well find the port on the docking station goes through an extra controller in a similar way a usb to parallel adapter does.

There is also the thing that the port may only output 3.3V signals, however a good quality BOB will solve that problem.

If you do want to use the laptop, then look at some of the external motion controllers.
There are quite a few available depending on budget, but Warp9td Smoothstepper and PureLogic boards spring to mind (Zapp sell the PL stuff).