Desktop PCs are:
- Cheaper
- More repairable and upgradable
- More options for hardware
- Better thermals
- A full monitor(s), keyboard, and mouse, instead of a rinky-dink keyboard and trackpad
Actually mounting a remote disk solves a different set of problems, such as if you need to edit something that doesn't support doing the work on the remote machine or if you want to explore the remote disk in Finder or some other GUI.
I see devs talking about syncing their work between multiple computers and it just sounds like a huge pain. Having a single laptop that you use everywhere is so much easier.
Unless you need a really beefy machine for something niche, a nice laptop handles development just fine.
If work supplied me with one of them I’d happily use it. Support has been great and they live up to their upgradable promise.
If you're going with Windows, you can have much more recent hardware with no worry about compatibility (I'd take the Surface for the 3:2 screen ratio). But these days, I tend to use a desktop as I'm spending most of my time on my desk with a good keyboard and a nice 4k 24" screen (I ssh from the laptop when I'm on the couch).
I actually built a tool to compare laptops that you might find useful: https://comparelaptopprices.com
The framework has a few disadvantages one of which is the bad speakers.
My personal wishlist for framework:
Coreboot support
Better speakers
ECC RAM support
LPCAMM2 support (modern RAM to save power and space)
The framework speakers are comically bad. Everything about their design is compromise (size and modularity over function), to the point where you should just use headphones. They sound awful and they're too quiet, because they're badly designed and firing into your lap or table instead of your ears.
It's a shame they're an afterthought on the new Framework 16, too. If they had added front firing speakers I would have bought one.
Framework is most configurable, but I have no personal experience.