>use my primary computer (desktop or laptop) to connect to my remote Linux servers to do this work

In my case, the primary computer is the linux desktop machine and I use the macbook to remotely connect to it when I am not home. Feels a bit weird to use a $2500 laptop as a dumb terminal, but I guess that's the world we live in (and which I am part of).

>worth the hassle to try to keep proper dev environments

In my experience, debian stable + poetry + the occasional container have been great so far. De gustibus...