Nothing like good old X11. When you are running an OS that supports X, you have many advantages over those who are not. Run the application from a machine that does have better capabilities and lose nothing. Both machines share the burden of getting your work done, and you lose only a little response time because of network speed issues. For many tasks this is not an issue.
Users can also share powerful machines.
This done right will seriously lower any TCO you have because it will centralize administration, and lower hardware costs per user. Using more than one machine at once. Just use two machines on your desktop. Almost any X window manager allows for multiple desktops if you get confused. Just make a couple and switch them as you need, or run everything on one screen.