One reason why so many developers have "power horse mobile workstation", is because that's whats handed out by employers. Desktop PCs for devs, management, etc.

One reason why so many developers have "power horse mobile workstation", is because that's whats handed out by employers. Desktop PCs for devs, management, etc. are a rarity in the office. As to the question, it depends on your needs. If you do most work at home, and have the device powered on most of the time anyway, then yes, a beefy desktop machine paired with a relatively cheap (as in "not a big deal if accidentially destroyed by bad luck"-cheap) is a good idea.