For me personally I can use pretty much any device anywhere. This is because all my data is on a server at home, none of it is on the devices. Everything is accessed from or backed up to the server, and the server is backed up to an identical server. No single point of failure.
I ditched the desktop years ago and use a laptop when at home. Away from home I usually use the N900 unless I know I am away for more than 1 night when the N900 often becomes the laptop's WiFi access point thanks to Joikuspot.
When I need to edit my photographs, I plug the laptop into the dock giving me a 24" IPS monitor and a gbit LAN connection. The server can be accessed from anywhere in the world via VPN so I am never without my data. If my laptop fails I borrow my wife's or my sons and can work pretty much as normal barring a few specialist software items. The day all the software I ever use is available via the cloud is the day I can ditch my ties to any one device.