Desktop or no?

I don't know of any students here who have a desktop, most just use their laptops for everything. The only desktop I've seen here is a Mac owned by someone's significant other who does a lot of graphics and video editing.

I have a slightly different take on this.

You definitely need an ultra portable laptop with you all the time in school, while travelling etc for which a Thinkpad x201 12" laptop is perfect. In addition to that I am carrying my desktop with me. I added a Samsung p2570HD 25" LCD monitor/HDTV to it, which gives me a monitor as well as a full TV. I will be using it as my TV/DVD player/Music center and also for work related stuff like big excel sheets, heavy simulations or anything else that the 12" laptop is too small for. I kinda like sitting on a desk with a proper keyboard and good posture for long sittings.

Somehow, I prefer this combination over carrying a 14"-15" heavier laptop.

My preference is similar to yours. I can't even imagine myself using a laptop exclusively, but I can see how other people choose to do so. I'm a little concerned about the ease and convenience of transferring working documents between my laptop and desktop though. I guess that's what Dropbox is for...

Here's a link if anyone's curious about syncing files on multiple computers.
https://www.dropbox.com/

Dropbox is cool but I always worried about forgetting to use it. I've had great success accessing my desktop remotely through LogMeIn. As long as you have an internet connection (and keep your desktop connected at home) you can work on your desktop, find files to email them to yourself, etc. There are faster and more secure ways to remotely access a desktop, but for free, I think it does the trick.