Have mentioned this on HN before but I've done this for years, with OpenVPN to connect to my network and then SSH and XPRA for the actual remote X or terminal.

Have mentioned this on HN before but I've done this for years, with OpenVPN to connect to my network and then SSH and XPRA for the actual remote X or terminal. On LAN I sometimes use a SPICE VDI. I don't care at all if I break or lose my disposable laptop and there's no data stored on it anyways. I used to use a desktop workstation for the above, but after I got a rack server (running 24/7 with a bare-metal hypervisor) I'm finding I'm using the desktop less and less unless I require the GPU. If I was back in school now I would've forgone the desktop altogether and gone with a cheap laptop and a used server. By the way, it's not just about performance. It's about the fact that your data is protected and secure, and you can have backups and redundancy in your private cloud instead of relying on a single laptop. Depending on how your remote access is set up you could even have a browser interface and thus be able to work on a borrowed machine or even on a public library computer.