2 PCs, 2 monitors, 1 keyboard and 1 mouse - sharing solutions.

Caporegime
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Edit.. I forgot about my work laptop. 3 machines

Looking for a sharing (likely KVM) Solution.

I have (or will have soon) 2 monitors and 2 windows PCs (laptop and desktop) that I want to share.

Ideally I'd like to be able to have both on, 1 screen each, one on, both screens.

I'm not sure how capable KVMs are. Is it more all or nothing? Ie you would need just have a KVM for the peripherals and switch monitors on the screen itself?
Both screens will have multiple at least 2 DP/usbc connections.

I'm assuming a kvm only for keyboard and mouse (and speakers) will make it faaaar cheaper

FYI. The laptop is a surface book so has a magnetic connector to a hub with all the ports so cable unplugging isn't an issue to move it
 
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Soldato
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I would connect keyboard and mouse into a simple USB switch, plenty on the rainforest that take a couple input and then you have a cable going out to PC and cable going out to laptop. I would then connect laptop and PC to the display using their own cables.


Or is there a potential you might want PC/Laptop to be on both displays?
 
Caporegime
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I would connect keyboard and mouse into a simple USB switch, plenty on the rainforest that take a couple input and then you have a cable going out to PC and cable going out to laptop. I would then connect laptop and PC to the display using their own cables.


Or is there a potential you might want PC/Laptop to be on both displays?

Ah. I'm an idiot. I didn't realise there were usb switches.
I've been looking at KVMs and it looks like all our nothing in regards to both monitors.

Id need to connect the machines to both screens. Which is fine as the screens have enough ports.
 
Soldato
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Ah. I'm an idiot. I didn't realise there were usb switches.
I've been looking at KVMs and it looks like all our nothing in regards to both monitors.

Id need to connect the machines to both screens. Which is fine as the screens have enough ports.
Yeah do that, be simple. The Surface dock is really nice piece of kit if you wanted to use one of them for your surface book but a simple usb will do the job.
 
Associate
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I personally use Synergy and have done for a few years... keyboard and mouse on main computer at home, work laptop to side, software on main as server and on laptop as client. Do the same thing at work with desktop and laptop when not WFH because of this lovely Covid stuff!

Came in to say this also. Synergy works really well for me :)
 
Caporegime
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I'm assuming these solutions need both machines to be running?

If so that's not an option as only be using one machine at a time
 
Soldato
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A simple solution I used to use was to have different coloured keyboards and mice. One set were beige and the other were black. That way I didn't get mixed up.
 
Associate
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I'm assuming these solutions need both machines to be running?

If so that's not an option as only be using one machine at a time
Yes the main "server" PC that actually has the mouse/keyboard etc plugged into it.
So not great for the electricity bill but simple. I always worried about input lag using a KVM 24/7 when I am not working and just gaming but I imagine that's probably not actually an issue.
 
Caporegime
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Yes the main "server" PC that actually has the mouse/keyboard etc plugged into it.
So not great for the electricity bill but simple. I always worried about input lag using a KVM 24/7 when I am not working and just gaming but I imagine that's probably not actually an issue.

Going to get a kvm and mot use the M I think.

I don't want to have one machine always on. Defeats the purpose.
 
Soldato
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If one is purely for non-essential stuff, ie. not rendering video or playing games, remote desktop is the easy solution, just logon over remote connection and drag the remote connection window onto the second screen.
 
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