[jyl]

So the desktop idea is looking better and better, thanks for the info on the personal cloud server and I will PM you!

Just being lazy, I priced a SFF Lenovo Thinkstation at $2,617 with
Xeon E-2226G (3.40GHz, up to 4.70GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 Cores, 12MB Cache)
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations 64
4 X 16GB DDR4 2666MHz ECC UDIMM (doubt need this much but we're in a cheap RAM period)
2 X NVIDIA Quadro P1000 4GB (4xMini DP) Low Profile (can run up to 8 monitors!)
Boot SSD 256GB Solid State Drive, M.2, PCIe, Opal (I have no idea what "Opal" means)
RAID 0 with 2 x 512GB Solid State Drive, 2.5", SATA3, Opal (probably don't need this if I'm going to keep files on the cloud?)
Slim DVD Rambo 9.0mm Windows 10
Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC, Bluetooth Version 5.0 Low Profile
Warranty 3 Year On-site (thinking I kind of want on-site service)

This is serious overkill for my needs but is nonetheless considerably less expensive than the workstation laptops I was looking at.

The monitors needn't be high-end as I don't see the need for particularly high-spec monitors for my needs, and I actually prefer more and smaller (27") monitors, to keep each application on its own screen.

Then a thin & light & not-expensive laptop with dual monitors for the home office.