If you're modeling something, when would you choose to try to make it one mesh vs using different objects and parenting them etc?
For example, in the very popular anvil tutorial by Blender Guru, he does everything in one mesh through manipulating it (and goes through a painstaking process to ensure that there is a single clean mesh).
However, in another tutorial I watched on CGCookie where a lamp is made, all the parts of the lamp are separate objects.
I've seen this question but it doesn't really discuss the advantages or disadvantages: Single continuous mesh vs disconnected parts