setting up home PC and work laptop

[Mephist0pheLes]

Noob here, is it possible to set up my home PC and work laptop with some kind of connector such that

One of my monitor is always connected to my home PC.
The other monitor to toggle between my home PC and my work laptop?

i.e. home PC to be connected to 2 monitor when not working. home PC to connect to one monitor and work laptop to another during work.

Or the only way is to keep plugging and unplugging the hdmi connector?

 

[mindgamey]

Noob here, is it possible to set up my home PC and work laptop with some kind of connector such that

One of my monitor is always connected to my home PC.
The other monitor to toggle between my home PC and my work laptop?

i.e. home PC to be connected to 2 monitor when not working. home PC to connect to one monitor and work laptop to another during work.

Or the only way is to keep plugging and unplugging the hdmi connector?

Google KVM Switch

 

[Mephist0pheLes]

Google KVM Switch

Oh, so one monitor connects directly to the desktop,

The other monitor connect to the KVM switch which in turn connect to both the desktop and laptop?

Is that how it works?

 

[86technie]

Oh, so one monitor connects directly to the desktop,

The other monitor connect to the KVM switch which in turn connect to both the desktop and laptop?

Is that how it works?

Yes correct or you can consider a monitor with KVM like Gigabyte monitors.
But they are very expensive.
Sim Lim Square should have, you ask All Stars or Bizgram if they have KVM swtich.

 

[Mclairs83]

take note that most KVM switch out there support only up to 60hz.

if your monitor is capable of more or u are gaming.. then u need to fork out even more money.

 

[liewhl]

A cheaper option is to use 2 cable and connect them each to two port on the monitor which you want to connect to your laptop. (I believe your monitor should have more than one input connector )

When not using the spare cable, hide it behind your monitor, then when you want to connect to your laptop, connect to it and toggle to hdmi 2 while your home pc is alway on hdmi 1 and when you want to use 2 monitor on home pc, just toggle back to hdmi 1.

You dun really need a kvm switch unless your monitor only got one input connector

 

[Phen8210]

Noob here, is it possible to set up my home PC and work laptop with some kind of connector such that

One of my monitor is always connected to my home PC.
The other monitor to toggle between my home PC and my work laptop?

i.e. home PC to be connected to 2 monitor when not working. home PC to connect to one monitor and work laptop to another during work.

Or the only way is to keep plugging and unplugging the hdmi connector?

Something like that can support a high refresh rate monitor. Search around and find what you need. This is not buying advice.

Anyway, KVM switches are not meant for gaming. They could introduce latency.

Don't take for granted that every product is electronically engineered well, as even some products such as expensive mechanical keyboards that look, feel and sound good, could shockingly have wired latency of 10-20ms.

 

[Phen8210]

Next idea is just use RDP on your desktop to control your laptop, this is literally free and since your laptop is just a work machine anyway.

 

[KleoZy]

Noob here, is it possible to set up my home PC and work laptop with some kind of connector such that

One of my monitor is always connected to my home PC.
The other monitor to toggle between my home PC and my work laptop?

i.e. home PC to be connected to 2 monitor when not working. home PC to connect to one monitor and work laptop to another during work.

Or the only way is to keep plugging and unplugging the hdmi connector?

please note, this content is old but it might help you out in understanding the concept of using KVM devices.
In addition, the current KVM device are way more advance compared to the device in this content, kindly do your own homework and search for the KVM device which cater to your needs.

Spoiler: My KVM setup back then

 

[Mephist0pheLes]

Thanks all for the help

 

[it_geek]

aren't you all making TS's life more complicated than it shld be??

his question is very simple leh. don't even need KVM switch

most modern monitors these days will come with more than one display plug in port, the mode which u can toggle using the monitor's buttons

Ur home PC's graphic card usually has 3 graphics ports. one DVI/VGA, one HDMI, one DP.

Each of ur monitor may either come with 2x HDMI or 1x HDMI-1x DP, or 1x HDMI 1 x VGA

just play around with the configuration and find out what works best for you.

you don't even need to come close to buying a KVM switch for this, which can be quite ex.

you are better buying 3 cables which cost less than $10 in total.

 

[Yongkit]

Noob here, is it possible to set up my home PC and work laptop with some kind of connector such that

One of my monitor is always connected to my home PC.
The other monitor to toggle between my home PC and my work laptop?

i.e. home PC to be connected to 2 monitor when not working. home PC to connect to one monitor and work laptop to another during work.

Or the only way is to keep plugging and unplugging the hdmi connector?

Please share more information of your monitor model, pc GPU, and notebook model for compatibility check

 

[Phen8210]

aren't you all making TS's life more complicated than it shld be??

his question is very simple leh. don't even need KVM switch

most modern monitors these days will come with more than one display plug in port, the mode which u can toggle using the monitor's buttons

Ur home PC's graphic card usually has 3 graphics ports. one DVI/VGA, one HDMI, one DP.

Each of ur monitor may either come with 2x HDMI or 1x HDMI-1x DP, or 1x HDMI 1 x VGA

just play around with the configuration and find out what works best for you.

you don't even need to come close to buying a KVM switch for this, which can be quite ex.

you are better buying 3 cables which cost less than $10 in total.

You need a KVM switch. Otherwise, you need to replug peripherals like a mouse and keyboard whenever you switch machines. Most people also prefer to use a mouse and keyboard if they are using an external monitor.

Isn't this common sense?

 

[it_geek]

You need a KVM switch. Otherwise, you need to replug peripherals like a mouse and keyboard whenever you switch machines. Most people also prefer to use a mouse and keyboard if they are using an external monitor.

Isn't this common sense?

it didn't seem to me he wanted to replug all his other peripherals. just his display

if he wanted to do as u described then yes unfortunately he needs a kvm switch....

 

[Yongkit]

I think TS is looking for one as he mentioned "connector" in first para.

However no one knows the spec of his system.

 

[Kennylyk]

An amateur here, but I think you can adopt these methods with consideration to a cheaper budget:

1st Method:

Assuming that your 2nd monitor has 2 display inputs (e.g. 2 X HDMI ports or 1 HDMI and 1 DP), you can buy the appropriate display cables, connect both your home PC and Laptop into their respective port in the 2nd monitor and switch display source by toggling the display's physical button.

If you are planning to use the same keyboard and mouse for both home PC and work laptop, maybe you can try "Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35460km) This software allows you to control up to four computers from a single mouse and keyboard. But note that there will be a slight latency as the devices will be connected via the same WiFi network.


2nd Method:

Assuming that your 2nd monitor has only 1 display input, you can buy a 2 in 1 HDMI switch (https://amzn.asia/d/458N4hA), buy the HDMI cables, connect both your home PC and Laptop into the 2-in-1 HDMI switch and switch the display source by toggling the 2-in-1 HDMI switch button.

If you are planning to use the same keyboard and mouse for both home PC and work laptop, maybe you can try "Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35460km).

 

[Yod4]

I work fully from home and have my home pc and work laptop connected to 2 monitors. Each monitor has a HDMI and DP. I connect my laptop to these monitors using HDMI while my home pc's connected via DP.

To toggle the display for my work laptop or home pc, all I do is just use the quick select button on the monitor to select input source.

For keyboard + mouse, I use a Logitech MX Keys and Vertical Mouse. Each of them can connect to up to 3 devices.

 

[Phen8210]

I work fully from home and have my home pc and work laptop connected to 2 monitors. Each monitor has a HDMI and DP. I connect my laptop to these monitors using HDMI while my home pc's connected via DP.

To toggle the display for my work laptop or home pc, all I do is just use the quick select button on the monitor to select input source.

For keyboard + mouse, I use a Logitech MX Keys and Vertical Mouse. Each of them can connect to up to 3 devices.

how much is the mouse and keyboard

 

[mindgamey]

aren't you all making TS's life more complicated than it shld be??

his question is very simple leh. don't even need KVM switch

most modern monitors these days will come with more than one display plug in port, the mode which u can toggle using the monitor's buttons

Ur home PC's graphic card usually has 3 graphics ports. one DVI/VGA, one HDMI, one DP.

Each of ur monitor may either come with 2x HDMI or 1x HDMI-1x DP, or 1x HDMI 1 x VGA

just play around with the configuration and find out what works best for you.

you don't even need to come close to buying a KVM switch for this, which can be quite ex.

you are better buying 3 cables which cost less than $10 in total.

No, this method doesnt work well.

At least for my monitor, it will auto switch to the other device is switched on when it detects new signal.

Which I dont have full control over my display.

There are times I just want to turn one the other device to wait for it to boot while I am still on my primary device.

 

[liewhl]

No, this method doesnt work well.

At least for my monitor, it will auto switch to the other device is switched on when it detects new signal.

Which I dont have full control over my display.

There are times I just want to turn one the other device to wait for it to boot while I am still on my primary device.

Depend on user tolerance, I think is small thing la but yeah, if you got the money to spend then can buy the kvm.

No $ then bo bian endure lo