What if instead of your desktop, you had a low-end server that was fairly cheap (~$1000) that could process it, quicker, cheaper, and more efficiently than your desktop? And better yet, the server is stored in a closet, never to see the light of day because it "just works" on your network? You're in complete control over it, giving it varying heavy tasks from whatever lightweight appliance you're using. Be it rendering video, playing a game, streaming media, storing data, etc...