She figures it's a more secure housing than just her omnicom (which when you're dealing with spooky monster ship and everything's up in the air already, is probably the way to go, since they won't fail unless she like...dies).

As for hearing her thoughts I'm down with that if you want it, since it's all literally hard-wired to her spine and skull as a backup for everything she either does or processes; as far as I can tell in canon it was a way to ensure there's barely a line (if any) between her digital and physical work, so that's seems logical 2 me??