Remote Desktop options: xclient? VNC? others?

I am looking for ways to connect to my Linux server remotely. At the moment, security is not an "issue", as I'll be connecting on my own LAN inside a firewall. Basically, I am recovering from a hernia and cannot get up. However, I have an iBook I can use from bed. I'd like to work on some things on my server, but not everything I want to do I can do through ssh. There are some GUI applications I'd like to run as well. I run Mandrake 9.2.

I've heard of people connecting through ssh with xclients but I could not google anything that was very helpful. Also, since I know it's not the only way, I wanted to ask your opinions. Are there easier ways? How about VNC? Does anybody out there do the same, do remote desktop connections to Linux from OS X?

While I am comfortable with Linux in many ways, this is an area I am completely ignorant about, so I appreciate your help. :)