I like using both hosting solutions and Amazon cloud solutions, especially since now Amazon has a micro server for 12 months free. In my case I need higher performance local and little external bandwidth or traffic for testing database and Oracle application servers. When building test servers you do not want to rely on network bandwidth and performance for a large database or many copies. I’ll stick to a custom built pc design to run large databases which can be built and rebuilt with little to no additional cost to me. If you invest about a $1000.00 in todays market you can build a server with a hex core processor, 24gb of ram and 240gb ssd disk and 1tb 7200rpm disk. This type of computing power gives the home user the capability to run and build full installs in minutes rather then hours.
If you don’t have the need to learn technology this is probably not the solution for you, but those of us competing in todays technology market should invest in hardware to meet the demands of our learning appetite.