I've been buying my own laptops for the past 15 years. The model I will buy is always better than what an employer will get for me. I favor Lenovo because they offer a proper docking station so I do not have to pack or unpack a lot of stuff daily. I found that having a desktop and a laptop was too much of a hassle to keep in sync. I've used batch files in the past to sync things but I just don't care to do it. I use Bit Locker but that is really to protect my personal info in case the machine is stolen. I rarely copy production data to my machine and when I do it tends to be just for a test and then removed. If it isn't removed it stays on the multiple drives I have connected to a eSATA card and the drive in the dock bay so it doesn't leave the building (secure building).