Connecting a Laptop

[RichH]

Hi all,

I have had my system for just over 4 years now - all still running fine and dandy.

However, with the world going mad in the last 18months, my employer is looking to include an element of WFH for us.

They will provide a Laptop - but I want to find a way that will enable me to plug that into my dual 27" monitors that I have connected to my PC.

I want to avoid a constant swapping of cables over, so would prefer a solution similar to just a switch or docking station concept (they will provide a docking station, but sadly its Thunderbolt, which isnt possible with my current rig)

Currently connected with DPi cables (I think)

Any suggestion or advice greatly appreciated (even if its "spend £1500 and buy this PC - as I'm probably getting close to that stage anyway and just have to justify to her who must be obeyed !!)

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 750D FULL TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING: LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GB, WiFi - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

 

[Martinr36]

you want a kvm switch something similar to this

 

[RichH]

That's exactly what I need - Thanks
Just need to find one with the facility to do

2 (PC) in -- 2 out (possibly 3 and 3 if I ever get round to buying that 3rd monitor)
Or
1 (Laptop) in -- 2 (3 if poss) out

 

[Martinr36]

I think this one does 2 and 2, but it's a bit pricier

 

[RichH]

Yes - i saw that.

Cant understand why the sudden jump in price for just a couple of extra ports/switches

Guess I will have to chat with our IT department seems as though they will actually be paying (hopefully)

Thanks @Martinr36

 

[RichH]

Actually - on further investigation (actually looking):

My monitors each have a spare HDMI port

Would the monitors be "smart" enough to pick up an HDMI signal from the laptop (potentially) and DPi from my PC and display accordingly or would I have to manually switch the input on them ?

Monitors are AOC 27" (cant find the exact model anywhere)

I am aware that I wouldn't be able to have PC AND Laptop on at the same time

 

[Bhuna50]

Stupid question but do your monitors take more than one input? I am currently using two laptops on one monitor - one is connected via DP, the other via USB-c/Thunderbolt connection - I just then press the input source button on the monitor to change between the two

 

[Bhuna50]

Looks like you just beat me to it by finding it yourself

On my Dell monitor the auto detect seems to ahve failed but I dont see why a normal monitor would not detect automatically which was on and just use that one - I sometimes have both laptops on, so use the source button on the monitor to switch between both as well.