Ask HN: Development machine in a cloud?

It came to me that it could be quite useful. Instead of having powerful PC, just using some kind of Remote Desktop on rented instance in a cloud. It would be great for people having slow computers or travelling. Of course there could be some annoying network lag, but I think in many cases such setup would be beneficial. Somehow I haven't heard of people working like that. Anyone tried it? Do you have some advice on it? Are there any useful tools for that (like for example probably there is something better than default OS's Remote Desktops)? Do you recommend any cloud providers for that?