I have a desktop, but I could imagine a life with only a laptop. Sure, maybe 99% of my usage would be at one desk, but if I need that other 1%, I need a laptop. It's the desktop that's an optional nice-to-have. And not everyone can afford or wants to have two computers which are powerful enough to do what they need.
In reality, far more than 1% of my computer use happens away from the desk where my desktop is located. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that.
You still only need 1 powerful computer. Networks are so fast these days and we have stuff like Tailscale it’s pretty easy to use the laptop as a dumb terminal and do all your work still on the fast computer.
Completely depends on what you're doing. If you're working on GUI software for example, you need to run that on your local machine. This is much easier if you're compiling and running the software on the same machine.
Then there are non-development tasks, like 3D modelling or video editing.
Remote desktop is a kind of solution, but it's extremely sub par. Latency is not good unless you're on the same LAN in my experience.
There's always some latency, but Moonlight has ~5ms latency on my LAN. I average 18ms total latency when I stream to my phone over 5G cell internet, that's with 6ms of decode latency in the phone's (fairly slow) hardware decoder and about 2.5ms encode latency in my AMD RX 6700XT's h.265 encoder.
Powerful desktop at home + Tailscale + super light old Thinkpad with amazing battery life has been working really well for me whenever I need to be out and about. As long as remote development works for you I think this is the way.
Yes a MacBook Air as remote terminal back to the beefy PC at the mothership is ideal usually even for for GUI remote desktop unless internet is already unbearable and/or pay-per-GB.
It's not going to support WiFi promiscuous mode but maybe pick up a Pi Zero 2W or similar if that's a requirement.
I would go nuts if I was confined to working from one spot. Versatility and mobility are too important to give up. And there’s no tradeoff with apple silicon.
I would imagine there would be more thermal throttling and throttling to reduce power usage on a Macbook versus a machine that wasn't designed to be mobile.
For the same reason people tend to buy much larger cars than they really need.
They could own a much more economical car, and have enough money left in the pocket to rent a van when they go on big trips, get delivered or rent a trailer the few times a year they need to carry large stuff.
Personally I like having a laptop because I use my computers in different rooms depending on the use case and occasionally on travel.
For my case, and probably the case of many such people, that's closer to 90%. The 10%, however, is a big deal. When you need to take it somewhere, you need to take it somewhere, and a device you can use in that 10% of the time is better than a device you can't use in that 10% of the time, regardless of how superior the latter is in the happy path cases.
I made this determination myself recently, and switched back to a Mac Mini after about a decade of docked laptop use. I use my 13" iPad w/keyboard and 5G when I want to be mobile.
I bought a m4 mac mini but even if 95% of my usage would have only been at my desk, that 5% actually makes me regret not going at least paying about $400 more for a macbook air so I can take it to the bedroom or to a coffee shop.
Thankfully my worklaptop is an m4 mb pro, so I have flexibility with that.
And indeed with virtual backgrounds in I do probably 3 meetings a week in my car so I can do quick errands without skipping a meeting here or there.
Not being attached to a single desk is nice, it's also nice to be present and sociable in whatever space I want to be in even if I have to be in front of a screen for work.
In reality, far more than 1% of my computer use happens away from the desk where my desktop is located. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that.