Well, that is naturally going to depend on the balance of work you need to do. If you have 12 months of nose-to-the-grindstone product development ahead of you, social connections are of less value. But if you are still spec'ing your product, or doing testing in focus groups, or other such things you'll benefit from those readily available connections...

Maybe I'm dreaming of having a large lab in the countryside, and a tiny office in the city.