If you're travelling around a lot, some people prefer a USB oscilloscope. But, if you're spending the majority of your time in the same place engineers almost universally prefer a stand-alone bench top scope. Pros of USB oscilloscopes: - Smaller & more portable - Sometimes cheaper - Sometimes more integrated capabilities Pros of Benchtop oscilloscopes: - Dedicated controls (knobs, buttons, ect.) + streamlined GUIs vastly improve usability - Often better specs - bandwidth, waveform update rate, max input voltage This talked about in more detail in the "5 Common Mistakes People Make When Buying a Low-Cost Oscilloscope" here: https://www.keysight.com/main/editorial.jspx?cc=US&lc=eng&ckey=2830640