Advice please - Swapping between workstations

[Electric_Andy]

Dear all,

I have a work laptop at my desk which I can do nothing with except work (Admin rights are owend by my employers). So I can't download any software.
I have it hooked up to 2 screens via a Dell dock which works fine.

I would like to buy a cheap PC tower so I can stash that under the desk but have it plugged in to the same screens. So if I want to use it privately (for music recording) I can switch between work laptop and personal PC tower. I don't need them to run at the same time. Is it possible to plug the private PC in to the existing dock (there are available ports for display screen, USB, HDMI and USBc)? i.e. if I turn work laptop off, and then turn on private PC, would it just work?

I don't want to be unplugging the monitors all the time, but on the other hand if this is not an option then I will rethink my plans and set up a sepaarte workstation which we don't really have room for.

TIA

 

[MontyVeda]

Since you'll be buying the tower anyway, and you already have the Dell dock and screens... I'd just plug it into the dock and see if it works. If it doesn't, you already know what plan B is.

 

[fossyant]

The Dock will work - even easier if USB C connection. Older USB will need drivers.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Many ways to do this, but really it just comes down to getting a clever enough dock and working out which resources you want to share.

My choice would be this, buy 1 new switch which will take 2 video inputs, and you switch between which one you can display. Switching could be auto or manual. You'd need to have 2 complete systems going in so 2 x computers, 2 x mice and 2 x keyboards. Keep your existing dock for the laptop and feed that into the switch.





You could take it a lot further though and buy a lever switch/dock combined which can sit in between both the computers and send the input of a single mouse/keyboard to them and then send the video output of both to a single set of monitors. Wireless keyboard/mice can help reduce the cable mess too.

PS I just realized you may not have a keyboard/mouse for the laptop and just use its inbuilt devices.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Many ways to do this, but really it just comes down to getting a clever enough dock and working out which resources you want to share.

My choice would be this, buy 1 new switch which will take 2 video inputs, and you switch between which one you can display. Switching could be auto or manual. You'd need to have 2 complete systems going in so 2 x computers, 2 x mice and 2 x keyboards. Keep your existing dock for the laptop and feed that into the switch.



View attachment 758078

You could take it a lot further though and buy a lever switch/dock combined which can sit in between both the computers and send the input of a single mouse/keyboard to them and then send the video output of both to a single set of monitors. Wireless keyboard/mice can help reduce the cable mess too.

PS I just realized you may not have a keyboard/mouse for the laptop and just use its inbuilt devices.

Thank you. I don't use the laptop as a laptop - it's mounted on a cradle and I use an external mouse and keyboard. I don't have enough room on my desk for two sets of everything which is why I wondered if there was some magic switching-dock where you could choose which source you want to use. I will just try it and see, and then plan B will be to set up a workstation in our spare room, which isn't ideal but would be easier

 

[fossyant]

My Thinkpad dock, you just shove the USB C (the one from the dock) into another computer and everything switches over.

 

[fossyant]

You may want one of the monitors plugged into both the hub and the computer (using one of the additional inputs on the monitor) as it may throw a wobble if it can't detect a main display on the desktop. All should work.

 

[Electric_Andy]

My Thinkpad dock, you just shove the USB C (the one from the dock) into another computer and everything switches over.

ok I will try that thanks, I can handle doing that

 

[wiggydiggy]

Thank you. I don't use the laptop as a laptop - it's mounted on a cradle and I use an external mouse and keyboard. I don't have enough room on my desk for two sets of everything which is why I wondered if there was some magic switching-dock where you could choose which source you want to use. I will just try it and see, and then plan B will be to set up a workstation in our spare room, which isn't ideal but would be easier

No worries, with the right dock anything is possible. This chap has multiple computers for world of warcraft all controlled with 1 k/b+m.

My Thinkpad dock, you just shove the USB C (the one from the dock) into another computer and everything switches over.

This is probably the simplest solution.

 

[lazybloke]

My Thinkpad dock, you just shove the USB C (the one from the dock) into another computer and everything switches over.

I do that to swapping between 🕑 work laptops, my own laptop and my phone. I need a bigger desk!

Do desktops support that manner of USB-C connectivity (video & sound output as well as HID devices)?

 

[Dadam]

It depends whether your existing dock will register the laptop as still connected when off (shut down). Some devices still register powered down devices as connected depending on the cable.
The kind of device you're looking for is a "KVM switch" - Keyboard, Video, Mouse. Back in the day they would be mechanical switch devices. w
1 keyboard and 1 mouse would connect to PS/2 ports on the box with dual outputs switchable between the machines. The box would also have a VGA monitor output and 2 switchable inputs. These days with different video standards and wireless connectivity it's a bit more complex but the same concept exists.

Not much use to you but I have multiple personal machines and a work machine and regularly use 2 "workstations", but I don't use "docks". I connect the laptops to monitors via USB-C with power delivery so it's just a single cable connection. One of the monitors doesn't have a USB-C so I use a dongle that links to DisplayPort and adds "power delivery" by combining the signal with an external USB-C power cable. Keyboard and mouse are bluetooth with multi device connectivity. They'll switch between up to 3 paired devices via buttons on the KB and mouse.

 

[lazybloke]

It depends whether your existing dock will register the laptop as still connected when off (shut down). Some devices still register powered down devices as connected depending on the cable.
The kind of device you're looking for is a "KVM switch" - Keyboard, Video, Mouse. Back in the day they would be mechanical switch devices. w
1 keyboard and 1 mouse would connect to PS/2 ports on the box with dual outputs switchable between the machines. The box would also have a VGA monitor output and 2 switchable inputs. These days with different video standards and wireless connectivity it's a bit more complex but the same concept exists.

Not much use to you but I have multiple personal machines and a work machine and regularly use 2 "workstations", but I don't use "docks". I connect the laptops to monitors via USB-C with power delivery so it's just a single cable connection. One of the monitors doesn't have a USB-C so I use a dongle that links to DisplayPort and adds "power delivery" by combining the signal with an external USB-C power cable. Keyboard and mouse are bluetooth with multi device connectivity. They'll switch between up to 3 paired devices via buttons on the KB and mouse.

Not quite sure what you're describing with your 2nd monitor, but an advantage of (some) displayport monitors is the ability to daisy-chain them; so a laptop with one output can drive multiple screens

 

[Dadam]

Not quite sure what you're describing with your 2nd monitor, but an advantage of (some) displayport monitors is the ability to daisy-chain them; so a laptop with one output can drive multiple screens

Sorry, a hurried post before my meeting started. I use single large monitors (one up in the loft, one down in the dining area), not multiple ones driven off the same device. We have the daisy chained type at work though.

One of said monitors doesn't have a USB-C input so I replicate the single cable connectivity with this adaptor DisplayPort cable from monitor to adaptor, external USB-C power adaptor plugs into the back of the adaptor, adaptor plugs into USB-C port on laptop.

 

[si_c]

A USB-C dock is possibly the easiest solution as noted above, assuming the PC you intend on using has a sufficiently fast USB-C connection to run multiple monitors which is not always the case.

My setup takes advantage of the fact my monitors have multiple inputs on the back (HDMI/Displayport etc) and I can connect the computers to different ones.

I have a largely static setup - Laptop for work, Desktop for play - I leave the laptop connected to it's dock permanently with two display's attached (HDMI outputs) and the desktop also has two displayport connections into the monitor as the monitors have multiple inputs. The laptop does use a displayport to HDMI cable for one of the monitors and an HDMI cable to the other as the dock only has one HDMI output.

I've then got a wireless keyboard and mouse (Logitech MX Keys and MX Master 3) which can switch between up to three devices each and are connected to both computers. I just lock the display on the laptop and wake the computer up and the monitor's switch inputs automatically once the laptop goes to power saving.

I do have a webcam and a microphone which are usually connected to the laptop but I use a uGreen 4 port USB 2 way switch to swap between computers at a button press, but that's usually only at the weekend if I'm gaming online.

Works really well for a static setup and the only investment I needed to make was in the USB switch as I already had the keyboard and mouse - the 4 ports also mean you can connect your keyboard/mouse to that if using a wired setup, but I didn't want to use a dock to switch the displays over as the dock I have doesn't support high resolution and high refresh rates at the same time so the displays are only working at 60hz instead of 165hz when connected to the PC.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I've just had an idea - my monitor, mouse, keyboard are all plugged into the dock. The laptop connects through one USB-C cable. So If i get a small tower PC then I can simply unplug the USB-C from the laptop and insert it into the PC tower? I guess I'll have to make sure that the PC Tower has a suitable USB-C slot, or I may have to buy an adpator but that's fine.

I'll only be running Reaper music recording software, so won't be a huge load on it and I'll only need the one monitor