I am ever so slightly and slowly trying to turn my Mac mini into my main work machine when it comes to podcasting.
I am already running into snags related to trying to spread things across multiple machines. And the main snag is of course and as always what I hereby dub the Super Mario pattern:
I am sorry Mario, but your stuff is on another computer.
"Stuff" is often files, but it can also be software, and of course setup and settings. I have never attempted to keep my computers as up to date clones of each other, and so they merrily drift in what is available where and how it is set up.
Since my main move has been to do more podcast work on the Mini, the most common problem has been that I think of doing a little bit of something on my laptop, only to discover that the required material is on the other machine.
Strange as it may sound, trying to improve my network speeds could be a big part of a solution. After all, I never actually work on two machines at once, and if I can only get to the things I need quickly it does not really hurt to make copies. But my network can be slow, sometimes a lot slower than I think it should be. Despite gradually covering more and more corners with wifi mesh points, some otherwise very laptop-friendly spots still get surprisingly poor speed, whether it is to the internet at large, or to the wired NAS only a few handfuls of metres away diagonally.
Sometimes our actual internet connection seems flaky as well, but it strikes me as I type this that I have never tried to eliminate our man network hub as the source of those problems. Perhaps I should try adding some more networking equipment and see if that makes a difference?
Side track finished
Okay, back from networking complaints.
Even if I could achieve amazing network speeds and copy things around instantly, I would probably benefit from actually keeping tasks to separate places. It is nice to feel that sitting down with all the screens means focusing on one type of work. (Even if I am certain to always be sneaking some more work time in by doing things on the laptop when I have time but lack the opportunity to duck into my office.) It is also easier to focus on other things when not at the work desk, whether it is doing completely other things, or thinking about and preparing what I should do next time I sit down. Sometimes having a few ideas and jotting them down can be a great benefit I would not have had if I just dove in and started without a plan (and without a large screen and all the tools connected to it).
I think the path forward, then, is to embrace doing different things on the different machines and see what falls out of that.
And copy files back and forth every now and then.