In order to do my column, I need to run the latest version of Ubuntu, so I have
Ubuntu 12.10 installed on both my laptop and my desktop, in a multi-boot
environment. On the laptop, it looks great and runs great, on the desktop not so
much. (I'm trying to figure out why it locks up hard after running for a short
while, less than three hours so far.)

When I want to get some work done, I use Mint 13. When I want to fool around, I
spend some time in Ubuntu 12.10.

I think "one environment for all devices" is the wrong path, but time will tell.
The obvious example: I can't imagine running Windows 8 on a device that doesn't
support touch.