I actually have 3 desktops in my office. One is a backup station, the other two are active. One of the active computers is on the web, the other is not. The one of the web has two monitors, and the one that isn't has a 42" LCD TV as the monitor.
I have a laptop which I use when I am away, and I am able to put the laptop drive into any of my desktop computers, and transfer files between the desktop and laptop, and then reverse it, when I come home.
17" seem a little bulky to lug around for canvasing and desktops are so inexpensive these days... I would suggest purchasing both ...A fairly decent top (doesn't need to be super charge unless your a gamer) AND an inexpensive desktop with a nice size monitor.
I have both. The laptop is indispensable when away from the office - like at home or travelling. I keep minimal sensitive information on my laptop and remote into the office when I need to. I also depend heavily on two monitors. I use one for Linux and the other is using Remote Desktop into my Windows machine (the same could be done with a Mac).
I think with how some of the pricing is now on a lot of computers, you can probably look into getting a PC for the office and a Laptop for personal/on the go needs.
You probably wouldn't even need to break the bank for a PC used in the office. Most of the work is not CPU intensive, you can probably just drop $600 or so and get something that will handle the job and you probably already have a monitor, so I don't think you would need to purchase one.
I personally have a custom built PC in the office and a Macbook Air that I can just pop out if I need to do any work. Spent a combined total of about $1700, which was not bad at all.
laptop for portability no need for a usb drive to transfer things back and forth unless you have very personal information you want to keep with you at home, then you can just get a pc at the office preferably one with high specs so you can run any programs quickly and get a usb drive with a lot of memory to transfer things between your home computer and work computer easily
I know a lot of people that you would think they would have a desktop but they use laptops with docking stations instead. That way they can take their laptop with them or lock it up when they need to. The docking station makes it no different than a desktop.
I would prefer to have both a laptop and a desktop on my own. I just want to make sure that when either of them messed off I can still use another one in a way that it won't affect my work.
Say for example my laptop have some problems and I can't use it efficiently the way I want it then I can go use my desktop where I shall have my files backed up as well - and vice versa.
The only thing about a desktop is you cannot bring it whenever you want to, stuck in one place unlike laptops where you can bring it anywhere you are comfortable with or even when you are out of town.
