maestro55 said:If you have the funds to purchase your own MacBook Pro, it seems like a good solution to your problems. Yes you would be using it for work, so it seems wrong that you would be buying it yourself; however, it would give you that machine to keep and do what you please with it.
I am pretty certain that my career will have me sitting in front of Linux and Windows machines (I am going to start college in the Fall for Networking Security/Administration) I suspect I will use my own MacBook Pro (that I would hope to have) for as much work as I could possible do on it, and use SSH and VNC to do work on the machines, etc. My computer teacher bought him a 17Inch PowerBook earlier this year and uses that for his grades (which are online) and making tests and doing whatever he needs done.
Some companies have policies about using personal computers for work because of company standards and the like. I know my company keeps service tags on all of our work property, and access through personal computers can only be done via a VPN connection using a smart card (which you have to request and justify). Again, may not be a problem, but it depends on the company. It's a way of trying to ensure that company software doesn't end up/remain on personal computers after an employee leaves.