I use a hosted series of VMs at Cloudshare which makes them accessible from their web interface. These are good for development and testing. I've tried building VMs using Hyper-V on Windows 8. However, I always have trouble configuring the virtual network adapter so that the hosted VM can get connectivity to the Internet. I also use Azure for development and testing, as well as proof of concept work. I receive $50/month credit as a Microsoft Action Pack subscriber. These are all ways to be more productive and provide suitable development environments without buying new hardware.