I am considering purchasing a 2010 27" iMac to replace my 2007 MacBook Pro as my everyday development machine. Ideally, I would like to work on the iMac when I am in my home office and work on the MacBook Pro when I am out at a clients office, coffeeshop, etc. I would like both machines to be in sync so I don't have to worry about not having an application installed, missing project files, etc.
Is it possible to use the internal drive on the MacBook Pro as the boot drive of the iMac? This would enable me to simply shut the machines down, disconnect my MacBook Pro and have a less powerful but functionally equivalent machine to go. If it is possible what are the drawbacks? Are things like system updates machine specific which would prevent me from updating the OS using the iMac and then trying to boot into the MacBook?
I am not interested in using an external drive to boot the MacBook as it would be too cumbersome, nor am I interested in using the iMac as merely a display for the MacBook since the iMac will be significantly faster.
If using the laptop as a boot drive is not feasible are their other options I should consider?