Should we try to avoid a layover in Abu Dhabi?

I'm travelling from the US to India on Ethiad and have a layover in Abu Dhabi - Anything I should prepare for? Will I be able to bring my laptop on the flight? I'm a (very) long haired indian man - am I even allowed in the Abu Dhabi airport? Is there extra security for layover flights? Or can you just go to your other flight like here in the States. Hoping someone has made this or a similar trek recently - trying to figure out if it is worth it to switch airlines and pay extra to go through France or China…

Just based off of my limited experience with Etihad/Abu Dhabi:

Yes, you can use your laptop.
Security at Abu Dhabi is at the gate itself. When a flight is close to departure, they open up security for that gate and let everyone pile into the gate area.
Once other thing about Etihad (that I also experienced to a lesser degree with Royal Jordanian)--if you are making a connection in the US from a US airline (like American) to Etihad, even though American will print your boarding pass, you will still have to get in line at your connection to get an Etihad boarding pass, and have your carry-on weighed. For me, that meant getting from the main terminal at O'Hare to the international terminal, getting turned away from security because I had the wrong boarding pass, and getting in a very long line stretching down the hallway, that at some point split between passengers originating at O'Hare and checking in, and passengers making connections that just needed a boarding pass and carry-on weigh.

Travelling out you are fine, but if on your return leg, you can't keep your laptop as part of journey carry on, and it must be in your checked luggage.