I once worked with a contractor whose entire lifestyle was enabled by her laptop.

Her worldly possessions could fit into a couple of bags -- and one of those possessions was a Mac laptop, which for her was a magic box that made money appear. I literally -- literally -- was often unsure of which continent she was on any given day. Most of the time she was some place in the Argentina hinterlands where she found a good internet connection, but she could have been in San Francisco, or DC, or Hong Kong, or....

I met her in person, once. She was in town for a relative's wedding. I asked where she was heading afterward. She didn't know; either Argentina or San Francisco. She had everything she owned with her, and she'd decide tomorrow.

She did good work, too.

For me, I much prefer developing on a desktop; I loves my multiple monitors, and the physical environment is more ergonomically sound.

But when I (or anybody else) say some version of "It all depends on what your needs are," it's true. It all depends on what your needs are.