I think it's an excellent compromise for being a portable PC. If I'm going to university, to a study space or a lecture, a laptop is freaking fantastic.

Also all laptops universally have one killer feature that nearly no desktop PC has: a built-in UPS. If power goes out, the laptop just keeps chugging along on battery power, giving you an extra few hours of work.

It's not my workstation of choice by any means, but I wouldn't call it miserable. It's fine.