Screen to support multiple laptops at the same time?

hyperclock · 30 Nov 2022 at 15:04

Hello

Is there a screen that I can connect multiple laptops to, at the same time?
Ideally wirelessly but I absolutely need not to install or change anything in the laptops or mess with potentially security restrictions.

If it has low/no blue light, it would be great!

Any recommendation or is there any other device to achieve that?

Thanks!

Andre · 30 Nov 2022 at 15:39

Any that have multiple inputs - so more than one HDMI, USB-C, DP etc. and then switch between them on the monitor
Or do you mean display both screens at the same time?

hyperclock · 30 Nov 2022 at 16:04

Thank you, no no all screens at the same time although it would be great (I suppose it would be a software solution).

So it needs to have multiple USB-C? Or if it has one USB-C I can plug a switch or something?

Any specific recommendations?

Captain_Bosh · 30 Nov 2022 at 16:47

Hdmi switch would probably be the easiest option assuming every laptop has a hdmi output

Andre · 1 Dec 2022 at 11:22

Most monitors will wither have multiple HDMI, or HDMI/DisplayPort/USB-C combinations - you just need one with multiple inputs. HDMI and DVI are compatible, just need a connecting cable, also DisplayPort to HDMI are compatible - again need the correct cable
I have a monitor with HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C on it, and can plug three different computers in at the same time with a flick of a menu selection, it shows the selected computer/phone

Werewolf · 1 Dec 2022 at 14:59

If you want one to display more than one input at once it sounds like you want one that does something similar to "picture in picture"/"picture by picture" (pip and pbp), I'm not sure about modern monitors but I know Dell used to do a few that from memory could display one input alongside another, and it was quite common at one point for monitors and higher end early LCD displays to support showing one input in the corner over another one.

A quick google suggests HP do an ultra wide that can display two inputs side by side on the same screen but i've no idea of it's limits or how good it is, however I would not be at all surprised if Dell still do something similar although I'd imagine it would be in their pro range of displays rather than their gamer/consumer ones.

hyperclock · 2 Dec 2022 at 21:14

Andre said:
Most monitors will wither have multiple HDMI, or HDMI/DisplayPort/USB-C combinations - you just need one with multiple inputs. HDMI and DVI are compatible, just need a connecting cable, also DisplayPort to HDMI are compatible - again need the correct cable
I have a monitor with HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C on it, and can plug three different computers in at the same time with a flick of a menu selection, it shows the selected computer/phone

That's great! I will go with USB-C only for now as not all laptops have HDMI. So, I would need a device to accept 4-5 USB-C and output one signal to a monitor (ideally with a keyboard shortcut switch rather than hardware switch). Any recommendation?

Andre · 4 Dec 2022 at 17:34

If you only want the display switching, and not the keyboard, then a bunch of USB-C to HDMI cables will do, followed by a high-quality HDMI switch that supports 4/5+ inputs
If you want the keyboard/mouse to be switched also, then you need a KVM switch. A Decent one that supports that many devices is not cheap!