How one could replicate this with a desktop + laptop combo? Setting up a work environment which syncs between the two constantly?
I have three desktops. Projects are on SSD VMs that I carry, or in the cloud. So no issues about syncing.
With that in mind (except probably a very heavy data) you already need a way to sync your environment... to something, depends on what are you doing.
And if you can sync it for a fast recovery then, probably, you can make it sync between N+1 computers.
In this way you won't need the laptop at all and can use a nice tablet. I'm thinking of going this way, but not quite there yet.
Another boon is that if your system goes kaput for whatever reason, you've already done the legwork to immediately get up and running again.