Although I can feel my toy vs. necessary alarm going off (you can do live stuff on some truly awful hardware, you don't need the latest Mac even if your persona

Although I can feel my toy vs. necessary alarm going off (you can do live stuff on some truly awful hardware, you don't need the latest Mac even if your personality dictates as much), having stuff rack-mounted is a real help when it comes to keeping track of stuff and keeping your "builds" (literally) reproducible In a less segmented environment (i.e. non-professional), having gear in a rack can also stop people playing with it.